REAR MIRROR / 載得有情人 [TVB][2014] [R] Funn Lim

Written by Funn Lim

Drama is good for a series which is pretty much flat line in the romance department
SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

Released In
2014

No. of Episodes
20

Cast-Character
See here at http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Rear_Mirror

Synopsis
Found here at Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rear_Mirror) which is pretty accurate.

A single father who works as a mini bus driver that struggles to raise his young son with a severe food allergy problem alone, meets a female CEO of a huge corporation who seems to have it all on the outside but has struggles of her own due to her father's illness and family members fighting with each other for the CEO position.

COMMENTS
It is billed as a romantic comedy or a rom-com. It is more like draromedy with less romance, more drama and some comedy.

For a drama, it works. The drama is the entire story of the in fighting and outsiders' fighting for the place of CEO. Comedy is provided by Tony Hung's story which is really the real romance of this series. As for the romance itself, there is none between the 2 leads until the very end and even then it is more like suggested rather than all out romance. It felt like a romance story suitable for senior citizens; rather non happening, not very passionate and it is what it is without embellishment which this series badly needs. The embellishment is in the drama and at times I was wondering what am I watching.

You see, this series succeed in none of these elements.

As a comedy, it wasn't very funny. Sure it has its moments, like the awkward charm of Tony Hung's character who kinda grows on you. I like the fact that he learns to be decisive in his love life and goes for the real love of his life. Natalie Tong works well with Tony Hung and they are believable as lovers who became friends who became soul mates. I was not convinced with Tony as the fidgety guy who is unsure of himself with a domineering but nonetheless a father who meant well. I thought this was a role made for Jason Chan who defines fidgety and unsureness but towards the end Jason will have a hard time convincing me he is self assured and grows into a real man. So in a way Tony Hung does badly at the beginning but does better in the end. Truth be told, I find Tony Hung a far better actor than Jason Chan so all things worked out well. But quite a pity; I may actually like Jason Chan if he was in this character. As for Natalie, at times in other series she OTT in everything but in this series, she was fine. I enjoyed her performance and I do like how decisive her MK Mui is. I feel the romance is in this pair as well although the real pair is Louisa and Wayne.

Louisa and Wayne... it sounds like a pair made in heaven but in the end something is missing. Is it the spark? I feel it is more like the story that is unable to assist the spark. For a rom-com about a driver and his boss, there is no romance at all until at the end. For all the talks about being sublime, understated, etc etc the romance or pairing felt more missing than subdued. I get it; their love is like tea, takes time to brew. But we don't see the brewing, we don't even get to see the tea so how are we supposed to be convinced we sipped tea in the first place? Almost more than half the series is about the drama; first the drama about Wayne, his son and ex girlfriend coming back for the son for dubious reasons. Then we have the drama about Louisa and her brothers and step moms and the fight for CEO. Then we have Tony's father arguing with everyone about a project we often hear about (about some clean water project) but never get to see it in action. You will certainly hear one word a lot; CEO. The way this series goes, it felt like CEO is the single most important, more powerful, most awe inspiring and most dazzling position, E-VER. But do you actually get to see the CEO work? Nope. Implied, some board room maneuvering but not much. It is so funny when the board or employees sit down to talk about projects, the scene cuts to the end where "Ok, so now we know what to do..". Yeap, make life easier, just cut through the real work and go straight to the drama. But I will love to sit in this family's board room. Why? Drama every single time. Step moms snapping at one another, brothers questioning the CEO sister, uncle threatening to cut funds for very very personal reasons. Everything is personal in here. The way the business is run, I am surprised anything is ever agreed and carried out.

But that's not just the problem.

Earlier on we see Louisa as someone no one respects or rather no one even looks at her. She was in the legal department and of no significance to the corporate structure since daddy runs things with uncle. I never had the impression the father loves her very much or even prioritize her at all. And then she became CEO and I thought it is because she was the one least involved in the squabble. But thereafter we see how daddy loves her, enjoys her company, taking trips down memory lanes about her mother, her childhood, etc etc. But I never had the impression the father loved her the most. In fact it was understood she is there on temporary basis; eventually she has to give way to one of her brothers. I find that very insulting. Of course in the end we know the father's real intentions which is really all about challenges to keep his mind alert and he enjoys challenges very much.

When the series seems to be steering towards something interesting; how the driver protects his lady boss, how she deals with problems after problems, the entire thing stopped and switches gear to Wayne and his son's mother and the paternity suit and the entire custody hearing. That came out of nowhere because earlier the mother came back, did DNA test and then said cryptically "You won't win against the biological father" and then she disappeared for a good number of episodes and then came back when the plot requires some drama. And then more drama as the biological father wins the case, kid moves in with bio-daddy and quite as sudden, the kid is returned and the series switches gear to corporate takeover. And as I was beginning to enjoy the corporate takeover, there is a double corporate takeover and we learn the true nature of both the bio-daddy (KK Cheung) and the father (Chung King Fai) which really is very interesting. The entire dilemma would have merited a few episodes except quite as sudden, bio-daddy disappears from screen and father has dementia and we learn uncle was always right. Cut to 3 years later and the main pair meets again, some cryptic lines and the end.

And in retrospect, I realise I only ever truly enjoyed 2 parts of this series; the story of MK Mui which really steals the limelight of romance which this series is supposed to be and how Wayne did the Tokyo Drift thing with Louisa's car at the beginning which is really the drama for me. The suspense is great for watching but after that it kinda made me feel I was watching something incomplete; something that is half baked. The only thing I learn from this series is CEO is everything. Louisa's character even won one of the Top 10 Female CEO in the country. Which is funny. So there's top 10 female CEO and top 10 male CEO. Feels like TVB awards; dividing the pork. I don't even thing the portrayal of CEOs is anything near resembling a CEO in real life. All I can here is CEO this, CEO that, CEO here, CEO there. The court room drama is exactly that; drama. It is badly written, and mainly to facilitate that short moment of difficulty for our hero and his young son. It felt put on; it didn't feel natural. It would have been fun if one of the lawyer characters in The Other Truth guest star as one of the lawyer. Now that would be attention grabbing.

Performances wise, I am torn.

I am a huge fan of Wayne Lai who I feel deserves every single accolade showered on him. He is an actor's actor; a character actor with character. He is also an actor who can portray romance; he tends to be one of the most flirtatious and romantic actor on screen without being overly lewd or depending on so called physical aspect. He can stand 10 feet away from the girl and still show us passion and deep love. Which is why he is so disappointing in this series. For one, his character Sunday is certainly the most super achiever of a character. A former delinquent turned gangster turned reformed learned dude turned mini bus driver turned driver turned photographer turned cafe owner turned cafe franchise owner. His Sunday doesn't give me an impression he is poor; the way HK goes, England is like so cheap for everyone. I thought maybe he is some CEO in disguise or something. Ahhhh that is if this is a Taiwanese rom-drama! It isn't, of course. He felt out of place. He was god-awful in the first few episodes. It felt like he just walked out from Forensic Heroes 3, changed career and became a mini bus driver. I find his performance pretentious and he lacked chemistry with the young boy actor. But as TVB series go, give it 7 episodes or so before we are all brainwashed and so I was; by the 7th episode I got used to his over sophisticated driver character but I never could shake off the feeling Sunday is an impossible character. I was never convinced by him, never felt for him, never cheered or cried for him. That was for Tony Hung's character, not this Sunday.

Louisa So was also god awful in the first few episodes until she got into the rhythm of things. Her Anson never truly touched me. I was never convinced with her niceness. I kinda thought she cared more for her dog than for the kid. I never thought she ever truly loved her vet boyfriend at all. I find her cold, and that is Louisa's fault. She never exuded the warmth that is needed for Anson. I also dislike the way she slurs her speech. It is worse than I remember. Louisa is normally a competent actress but this series did not manage to bring out the best in her and quite frankly, I don't even think she bring out her own best for this series.

Natalie Tong impresses me. I used to dislike her OTT acting, like everything is personal to her even if it is someone else's problem. But in this series she balances well in her performance as MK Mui who is for me the most memorable character in here. Her chemistry with Tony Hung works and she is very enjoyable to watch. She is less sleepy looking, less bored looking and looks more alive in here.

Tony Hung as I have commented above is not suitable for the first half of the series but grows into the character in the 2nd half.

Benjamin Yuen and Stanley Cheung as the half brothers were enjoyable to watch since they don't have much to do except to antagonise Louisa's Anson in the boardroom.

Amy Fan is enjoyable to watch. I feel she is one of the very few whose character is fully fleshed out. She nails the part of Vanessa (Wan-Nai-Sa aka Play with Sand).

Elaine Yiu is typecast as the ungrateful disgruntled ex girlfriend who runs away from a relationship for own selfish reason. That being said, she has grown into a competent actress. I shudder to think of how she was in Safe Guards and my god, she has come a long long way. I wished she has more varied characters  though. And she should take care not to slur her words, if not she will end up like Louisa So.

The young actor, not sure what is his name, is a very handsome boy! That's the first thing I noticed. Whilst I didn't like his acting at first, not as good as the ones in Coffee Cat Mama, he grows on me.

Ram Chiang has a role in here, a very important one even if I was thinking his role will be a villain, in love with Anson, etc etc. I was pleasantly surprised that he is personally without much drama and I like that. As always, a wonderful actor, as long as he is not the CEO.

The veterans were the ones who truly shine. From the bickering step moms that is Susan Tse and Mary Hon to the typecast Lau Kong as another angry uncle/demanding father, KK Cheung as the nice guy/bad guy/nice guy/bad guy/nice guy/bad guy character (yeap, series was indecisive as to vilify him or deify him) and Chung King Fai, the ultimate bad guy. In fact Chung King Fai steals the show in the end with the way he was so calculative and turns out to be the biggest villain. Pity is there is no consequence for this character except for dementia which was a blessing in disguise because it heals the rift between the 2 brothers. I would have wished Anson walk away from her father and run away with Sunday to England because what the father did was inexcusable. Unfortunately, this series decides not to go extreme in anything. The dilemma flat lines before it reaches the ultimate drama.

VERDICT
You can see it both ways; 20 episodes of nothing much or 20 episodes of too much. Either way, nothing is adequately portrayed or fleshed out or represented. It felt like it was badly edited or filmed in a rushed way without adequate films to cover all the intended scenes and stories. Great for those days where there's absolutely nothing to watch. I enjoyed it for that reason. But if there is something else on the telly, give this a miss. I wouldn't recommend it even for Wayne Lai.

This series will appeal to those who wants to watch something that is nothing much. Drama is good for a series which is pretty much flat line in the romance department.

P/S
I like the poster. One of the least packed poster in recent memory. However Natalie and Tony shouldn't be in the middle. Looks out of place.

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BLACK HEART WHITE SOUL / 忠奸人 [TVB][2014] [R] Funn Lim

Written by Funn Lim

He is not the worst actor in this series, and to me this is one of if not Ron Ng's finest ...

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS  

 

TITLE DECIPHERED
Chinese title is 忠奸人 which is a pun to the word Middle Person. Except here it is literally "Good Bad Person". Love the title. English title also rather good except at the end of the day no one is ever Black Heart White Soul. Plenty of black hearts, no white souls.

RELEASED IN
2014

NO. OF EPISODES
30

CAST-CHARACTER
Entire cast list here at http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Black_Heart_White_Soul

SUMMARY
Thanks to Wikipedia.

This series will talk about the "grey area" of humans, that there is no absolute "good" or "bad".

MY POSTS
Did some short comments on this series here at http://www.point2e.com/2014/07/o-black-heart-white-soul-tvb2014.html

COMMENTS
At the end of this series I arrived at one conclusion about this series; I liked none of the characters because none of them are likable for some reason. This is not a series where you have cute cuddly characters with cute silly nicknames, except for Funny Sir. But nothing about him is ever Funny. This is not a series about redemption even if at first I thought it probably is about the bad dude in wheelchair playing nice at the end because he is really really really sorry. No one is ever really sorry or remorseful of anything in this series. No one is ever really happy either. This is a series about misery and how everyone is miserable in the end, except for one man but his is a sort of twisted happiness.

You can say this is one of TVB's best series for 2014. It also is one of the best for many many years if looked as a whole. However it is also one of the most confusing and inconsistent series ever. It started well, towards the middle it went insane when the original story was done with, it had to take a new direction without abandoning the original story but it ended with a bang. The deaths were mostly justified although I will say the deaths were spectacularly done. I can't complain about that. The end for those who remain alive is aptly miserable and subdued. The very last scene to me will remain as one of the most major revelation in TVB's TV history and will be one many fans will debate and argue eventhough it is rather clear and non debatable. Or rather you will debate about unseen characters who will be directly affected by that ending we see. There were some happy endings for some minor characters who had a major role to play, or some forgotten ending for some but mostly I do feel this is one series where the ending is pretty clear for all even if it is like I said may be debated for a while.

So what is this story about? A legal drama? A cop drama? A mole drama? Nope. It is a drama about being human and the flaws that defines us.

MATT THE CHARACTER
None defines those than the main character, Matt who is in a wheelchair. Usually when we see a character on TV in a wheelchair, he is one we view with sympathy and in TVB world, usually the nice sweet one. At first that's what we thought Matt is until the first revelation is exposed; his true colours is not as simple as we think he is. Even then as a viewer who is quite emotionally invested in this story, I thought perhaps he can be redeemed. But as the series progresses, I realise the story is not keen on redeeming Matt; it in fact vilifies Matt and exposes him not just as a pretentious bastard, but a pretentious bastard with selfish intentions whose first and foremost interest is his own interest. To Matt, it is always what have I got to gain from all these? First it was money for surgery to his legs. For that he sacrificed an innocent woman's liberty.  Then it was for career and for that he sacrificed a really sincere man who wanted to atone for what he did wrong and to be Matt's friend. Then it was for love and for that he sacrificed everybody else, even if most deserved it. At the end it was for forgiveness, which in itself is a giving act but when it comes to Matt, it was not an act of selflessness but an act of utter selfishness and for that he sacrificed his own life, liberty and freedom. A heavy price to pay but he calculated it, he planned it, he thought about every move like a shrewd chess player and in the end he deduced he has more to gain than to lose. Even at the end Matt is a very calculative man, flawed and nothing likable. Can he be pitied? At times I do whenever he is being compared to the bigger villain and is proclaimed to be the worst of the lot. He wasn't. Yes he is manipulative, he uses love and friendship so perhaps that made him the biggest villain of all but he didn't kill. He never directly harmed another to be more precise. I never liked him, at times I try to feel for him and every time I almost succeed, there is another reason to dislike him. But I never hated Matt. It was never enough to hate him. In fact there were times I feel he indirectly helped the people he supposedly hurt.

For example, May his wife. He was the reason she was convicted of a crime she did not commit although he is not the reason she was arrested in the first place. And yet if without Matt, this silly May will still be chasing after bad guys and will eventually end up in prison some way of another. She seems so immature to me at first I felt prison matured her into a better more sensible person. In part it was due to Matt's encouragement, however insincere he may be, whatever he did May changed for the better.

Another example is Ming his own brother. Ming was imprisoned for a crime he did commit but it was entrapment from Matt. Ming was told by May that Matt was the reason, instead of anger, Ming reasoned whatever it may be, Matt helped him appeal his conviction and in a way if he was never greedy he would never have been caught in the first place. After being caught he reasoned he became a better man.

I know it is twisted logic but somehow Matt did the right thing but he did them with the bad intentions.

Another example is the issue of Scarlett, another silly woman and the violent numero uno villain, To Yee Hang. May find it disgusting that Matt manipulated and encouraged Scarlett to kill To Yee Hang when frankly, Scarlett didn't need any encouragement at all. That woman was stupid in the first place. I feel by wanting to kill To this Scarlett is doing the world a huge favour.

Same goes for Matt killing Lau Yim. Everyone blamed Matt for stabbing Lau Yim on the neck when everyone seems to forget Lau Yim was strangling Matt in the first place. It was part self defence part murder but the world is better off without a violent criminal like Lau Yim who killed without reason nor remorse. He even enjoyed killing people, such as throwing the fainted Sap Chai off a building, quite literally. No one remembered that but they all piled on the guilt on Matt for killing Lau Yim, which made absolutely no sense.

Unless of course you're talking about absolute black and white situations. For a series that is all about the grey, towards the end there is an insane need to justify everything in black and white matter. That is why I feel for Matt when he tearfully and frustratingly cried when May betrayed him as May said she did it because he was wrong, but to Matt, whatever he was doing was to protect her and for his own gain and there is no absolute right or wrong but in this cruel world, it is only me, myself and I. Sounds selfish but in that instance, I agree with Matt. This series almost destroyed itself when it needed to be right, wrong, black, white about everything. But the last scene proved otherwise and that is to me an apt ending which is why the English title is sort of on point.

Matt is the driving force of this series but other characters had almost equal billing in terms if interest and impact.

HIS ENDING'S DRAMATIC SCALE
Woahhhhhhh!!! Cooooool!

He will die, eventually since his kidney's done for. He needs dialysis. But he will die a very happy man in prison because he confesses all his crimes, got himself probably decades and will die in prison but he atones his image before May who will be bound by either guilt or pity or love or all to spend the rest of HIS days to visit him in prison. Problem is he didn't really genuinely atone for his sins. He faked his atonement to gain May's pity because what Matt wants, he will manipulate, he will cheat, he will beg, he will pretend, he will confess all crime, he will sacrifice his life to get what he wants. And he wants May's attention and in throwing away everything, he in the end won what he wants and so to me, Matt is the happiest person in this series in the end. Poor May.

ROGER THE ACTOR
I made an observation earlier on on how this series was gonna depict Matt, will there be car chase scene, foot chase scene, etc etc when I kinda realise you know, all these were impossible.

His disability was supposed to be the driving force of Matt's nature but frankly I have never seen such a mobile disabled person which is positive to see but not much impact for the series. Towards the middle, Matt could have been fully able bodied instead of disabled, it made no difference. That doesn't mean Roger was terrible. Quite the contrary, Roger was masterful. Ok, so the legs moved, didn't seem heavy or dead weight enough, he was super agile for a person whose legs can't move, rather OTT in some scenes (especially his evil stare and sneer which reminded me of Tavia Yeung's awful evil look in Beyond The Realm Of Conscious.. sorry... Conscience) BUT his best scenes, all towards the end and in that scene where May confronted him to tell him she had betrayed him and he cried out in frustration.. those scenes showed why Roger is one of the acting kings of TVB. Some other actors may be able to act as well in this role without going overboard but Roger did an amazing job. He was willing to go so low for this character, I applaud him.

ALTERNATE CHOICE
Ruco Chan is my other choice for this role just so to match Ron Ng in age. Roger is arguably and admittedly too old but perhaps maybe Matt and Funny aren't supposed to be matching in age anyway. Frankly I do not know. However I do  not know if Ruco could go as low as Roger did, even as a villain Ruco manages to be the desperate hero these days whilst Matt isn't supposed to be pitied or admired. In that sense Roger is to me the only choice for his ability to make the character so despicable.

FUNNY SIR THE CHARACTER
Funny Sir almost had  a point to justify his extreme hatred and determination to catch Matt for his crimes. Almost until he went too butt hurt for me. It was almost vengeful, vendetta sort of butt hurt because Matt used him, he almost had Funny killed, etc etc. I get it that Matt is terrible, Funny is angry but the most infuriating thing about Funny is, he thinks he is always right even when he is as ruthless and at times as terrible as Matt. He drove his girlfriend to almost madness and depression, he married someone he love for the reason to get close to her dad to investigate her dad, he had a part in causing her to lie in a vegetative state at the end, he caused his own mother's death, he reasoned Matt was worse than To which was pure stupidity in my opinion (for one Matt never executed his own wife point blank without remorse), he used May to make sure Matt continue to go his criminal ways just so he can catch Matt later. I know he is supposed to be a righteous character but I do get a feeling towards the end he was supposed to be so out of his mind with vengeance he has lost his way until his mom died and in a moment of clarity he became the straight as an arrow cop again. Problem is I still hated Funny because I find him unjustly in his accusations and a hypocrite in justifying his actions. I am not sure am I supposed to hate Funny but like one commenter said some time ago about Ron in Ruse Of Engagement, he always manages to star in a character that "stops the world from spinning" sort.

HIS ENDING'S DRAMATIC SCALE
Blahhhhhh!!!

Doesn't die, not maimed, lives to tell the tale. Skeptical over Matt's supposed atonement but still friends with May. And he will be the richest of them all. Why? To Yee Hang dies without a Will, Scarlet the wife dies, Gillian the daughter in persistent vegetative state and may die and so in the end all passes to the son in law, Funny Sir!

So unfair.

RON NG THE ACTOR
Poor Ron Ng. He somehow could make Funny so annoying or maybe on paper Funny is a funny sort of character, in a bad way. I will say this series is perhaps Ron Ng's best dramatic role, because I see more than bored stoned out look on his face. He could look angry stoned out, sad stoned out, etc etc. In this role he cried, he shouted, he teased, everything in one role. His best moments were the buddy-buddy moment, his worst will be his dramatic moments, but that being said, Ron Ng gave his best in here. He is not the worst actor in this series, and to me this is one of if not Ron Ng's finest eventhough I will say he was better in Triumph In The Skies II BUT Isaac is way classier than Funny. But you gotta give him props for looking admirable even when being called Funny Sir at the most dramatic moments in this series. As for his Funny, I don't know, could it be the Ron Ng curse that every dramatic character he plays always ends up being so "stops the world from spinning"?

MARCO MA THE CHARACTER
Marco Ma is the villain with a heart in here. His downfall is he is not as ruthless and self serving as Matt, not as manipulative and evil as To, not as carefree as a villain as Lau Yim and fell for the wrong woman that is Scarlet. Basically he is this series 2nd most pitiful character. I really do feel for this man.

HIS ENDING'S DRAMATIC SCALE
Nooooooo!!!!!!!

Tried to kill himself after that Scarlet woman was a super bitch to him but he didn't die, had me guessing was he or was he not but in the end confirmed he was indeed crazy due to the impact of the water thing in the car thing in the river thing. And he remains so at the end and for me, 2nd happiest character in this series since he forgot his misery.

LOUIS CHEUNG THE ACTOR
Fast becoming one of my most favourite actor in TVB. I don't know what is it about him. He is not very good looking, he is not very tall, he is not even considered dashing but I can't stop looking at him. He wears those Bosco silly looking costumes and guess what? He wears them so much better! Bosco looks like hobo, Louis looks like a rich guy. His character reminds me of Bosco's in Ultimate Addiction and Louis was more convincing as a rich guy who has a secret. This man has serious acting chops, serious singing chops, serious dancing chops and he has a great speaking voice and very expressive eyes. And he does kissing scenes too without complaining. He made Marco Ma memorable and manages to maintain his dignity and in some ways his humanity, thus making Marco Ma the reluctant villain and the least despicable amongst the men in this series. He is the actor to look out for.

TO YEE HANG THE CHARACTER
There must be some irony that the character is a bald benign looking guy who loves his daughter the most and he turns out to be a rapist, an abuser, a violent wife beater, a murderer who does not gets his hands dirty except in the end, a control freak and a dirty businessman all rolled into one. Villain of the year? Perhaps because he is to me the ultimate villain. There are some inconsistency of course, like  how again and again TVB never ever depicts a decent legal aspect in a drama, many of them revolving To Yee Hang but on the dramatic scale, this is one character you will be scared of and wanna smack as well. By the way I don't quite like how rich people are depicted. Surely there must be some nice kind hearted not very control freak rich person out there somewhere? This series tells me all rich successful people are bad people.

HIS ENDING'S DRAMATIC SCALE
Perfect!!!!

Seriously, no TVB drama has ever ended a villain's life as satisfying as this series. First he ran away and off into the streets, turned back to smirk and suddenly WHAM! Got hit by a car and his back hit the stationary lorry when the same car that hit him got knocked at the bumper by a car that couldn't stop in time and so our villain was now knocked a second time and pinned between the car and the lorry. What could have made it ultimate death will be his prolonged death like blood oozing out of his mouth and he tried to move his mouth to speak but couldn't and then slowly die a painful death. But one can't complain too much. I will take this death as it is.

WAISE LEE THE ACTOR
I am however not convinced with the acting, maybe he looks too nice, you know. Maybe that's the point. In retrospect, maybe he wasn't egoistical looking enough, not angry enough, not control freak enough but in a way it was a competent performance by a veteran. Perhaps if he had been too this or too that he would have been a caricature because towards the end To Yee Hang was in the danger zone of being a caricature. Therefore, good performance.

LAU YIM THE CHARACTER
He has got to be the coolest most heartless villain ever, and yet this very same heartless villain put above all else the value of friendship. He was Marco's henchman and friend from prison and even when Marco betrayed him, he lied for Marco. I don't know; this cruel evil man threw Sap Chai down a building simply because he could and he betrays May his lover and also beats up his sister and yet I admired his sense of brotherhood. Strange.

HIS ENDING'S DRAMATIC SCALE
Great but too short!!

Matt struggled with Lau Yim who was strangling Matt when Matt took out a swiss knife and plunge it into his neck. And that is how Lau Yim aka Ah Fo perished. Need more blood.

MATT YEUNG THE ACTOR
Since Matt Yeung is mostly expressionless but cool, this character suited him perfectly. No complaints although at first when the series started he was this super cool gangsta who robbed a designer bag store, I was like what? Poor gangsta issit? Rob a store? Of course that was before the whole story started.


NG SHING YEE THE CHARACTER
Aka Sap Chai. The most pitiful and perhaps the most blameless character even if he was flawed. He got set up from the get go and his ending was so sad and very very dramatic.

HIS ENDING'S DRAMATIC SCALE
Off the roof and puns intended!

Seriously, he was knocked unconscious and then Lau Yim carried him and threw him down the roof and we even get to see his body hit the floor. Very very dramatic and shocking, perhaps so shocking everyone watching with me gasped loudly. Now THAT is dramatic!

DAVID TO THE ACTOR
I did not realise this was the young actor playing Anne Heung's dark skinned son in Love Is Beautiful until Kidd reminded me and my god, now I remember. He looks the same. Excellent performance. He does look like a man in desperation, very scared, etc even if at times I feel too much scenes of him acting like a coward. The thing is his Sap Chai never really became brave and I suppose that is why this series rock. Not one character becomes the hero of the day but all of them are flawed.


MAY THE CHARACTER
Started out intriguing, the middle sort of disappear from the story and then came back into the storyline. I feel her story is not standalone; hers is to serve the purpose of Matt's story. Maybe to show that he has a loving side even if we viewers like May at the end finds out and accept the harsh truth; you can't love someone who proclaim to love you the most and yet treat everyone like shit. You can't ignore that. And Matt loves only himself at the end of the day, even if he wanted to sacrifice his own life for May, he did it because he knew he would look good in front of May and not out of the goodness of his heart. Which is realistic. I however ended up disliking May because I feel this series tries too hard to be black and white with characters. May is like a complete canvas where you can see everything, guess everything. The moment she found out Matt was responsible in part for her imprisonment, she broke up with him. When she saw the youtube video, she reconciled. When she was told by Miu Miu Matt seems to be the bad guy in disguise as the good guy, for a moment she hesitated and yet she went on to investigate him. In the end she betrayed him when she knew he did a lot of bad things (which to me isn't that bad to justify the betrayal). However as justice would have it (yes, justice because she needs to suffer too) she will probably bind herself to Matt when she finds out Matt confesses to everything and is dying, thinking he truly repents when he doesn't. What I would have love to see is May being hopelessly devoted to Matt. When she first found out about the prison thing, I would have hoped that she buried it deep inside her, forgive Matt and move on because by that time Matt was the man who in more ways than one encouraged her and changed her for the better. Prison was actually better for her. Then I was hoping it would fester, create a fake lull until she finds out about Ah Fo's death BUT even then she shouldn't have been angry. Ah Fo was violent criminal, she should understand. But it should be Ming's incarceration that should open her eyes and in the end she will come to a natural and sad conclusion the man she loved never was that man at all. Hence the betrayal which would justify the tears, the anger, the disappointment. Come on! You got on with a guy who took money to put an innocent woman into jail, how much worse can he be than that and yet you still got on with him. Surely everything else wasn't as worse. I feel May was badly fleshed out. I didn't feel for her because I feel she knew what she was getting; in fact when she betrayed Matt I thought she was more despicable. After all by that time we knew Matt did everything for her and frankly his crimes are more white collar than murder and stuff.

KRISTAL TIN THE ACTRESS
At first glance, a total and absolute miscast. She is too old for this role and she is not pretty enough because since May is pursued by quite a few, one would assume she is pretty and also because she is so idealistic and into romance with bad boys, one would assume young, maybe mid 20s at most. However her face suits when it comes the "strong on the outside, very weak on the inside". Kristal always gives me an impression she is a very independent strong woman. May shows the same aspect but when things fall apart, she crumbles and falls down hard. That is where again she is back to being a miscast. I am not convinced by her performance. It doesn't help she looks the same and dresses the same like in No Good Either Way except I like her more there and I do here. I also find the character not very well written so Kristal is basically given a weak character to play and she disappears from the screen and from the story, as if she is not the leading character next to Roger and Ron. Not her best work, not even memorable in that sense.

ALTERNATE CHOICE
If Charmaine was younger, I will say Charmaine Sheh. Now, ok you can go "WHAT?!" but I will say Aimee Chan but she is not very believable as someone not very educated but she has this youthful look, before the baby came along. Selena Li can play the bad girl turned desperate girl turned dutiful girlfriend turned angry girlfriend but I can't stand the way she speaks. So... at the end of the day I will say Linda Chung because this can be rather similar to her excellent and best role in A Journey Called Life. However the role can also be adapted to a Mainland China character working and living in HK so that will widen the pool of actresses.

SCARLET THE CHARACTER
One despicable woman. I should have guessed she would be such when she started the affair with Marco. On a scale of selfishness, she matches Matt but the difference is Matt is selfish but tries hard not to hurt his beloved whilst Scarlet is selfish and she has no problem walking over Marco's dead body.

HER ENDING'S DRAMATIC SCALE
Bull's eye!

I don't condone domestic violence and I felt pity when she was abused, raped, bullied by To Yee Hang. But when she from victim became the aggressor, and in light of poor Marco, I didn't care. She deserved the beatings. Quite simply because she crawled on all fours back to him. She had a chance to run away with Marco and enjoy riches, live a good life in South America. Imagine; samba in Brazil, tango here, flamenco there but she said she wanted revenge. Revenge my foot! She wanted more money and status and name and fame which only To Yee Hang can give. No pity for her. She asked for it. Her ending as well even if To Yee Hang did it in a cold blooded way, again no pity for her.

LEANNE LI THE ACTRESS
A very prominent role for her, in fact she sometimes have more screen time and more story than Kristal Tin. Was she good? Ok lar. She is not the best actress around. She still speaks haltingly, and breathing heavily. Fans seem to praise her that she has improved. Yeah, she improved but she wasn't great. Competent is the word but she does do the "fidgeting" aspect perfectly. Poor girl though; had to wear ballet slippers the whole time even when in revealing tight gowns that benefits from super high 6 inches monster heels.

One thing I must comment on. Remember all those 2 seconds rape scenes by prominent actresses which became the selling point of the series? And yet here is Leanne, filming a rather graphic scene (by TVB's standard) of her being forced by Waise's character. It was a long scene complete with visuals and sounds and some inter cut scenes with Louise and back to her and the guy on top of her looking very very in distress. And yet not one word on this in English news site, not that I know of. Anyway whatever pity I felt for her kinda eroded in the next few episodes in this series' attempt to vilify almost every character in some ways.

GILLIAN THE CHARACTER
Quite a pitiful character; deceived by her father whom she sees as a saint, betrayed by her husband whom she loves very much, despised by a mother in law she respected, hated by her own stepmother. And she has no friends. She is always alone. She is highly educated, very nice, very kind hearted to the point she can hurt people with her kindness (Sap Chai for example) and elegant in her educated rich girl kinda way. Pampered but not arrogant and never self centred. She is the perfect daughter that one could hardly believe To Yee Hang managed to give birth to. However she is also too much rainbows and ponies in her mind; too idealistic, too trusting and too mollycoddled that she can't face the truth of whatever is the truth. In the end one question is answered; she chose her father. Even when confronted with her father's criminal activities, she chose to run to her father and expose her husband. I think by that time she was already half mad. Blame Funny.

HER ENDING'S DRAMATIC SCALE
Bone crushing!

Poor poor girl. She was accidentally pushed by her father who was struggling against Funny when she fell head first. I thought she broke her neck. Nope, she just never woke up from her coma. No happy ending for her. Blame who? Funny!

LISA THE ACTRESS
Sometimes Jillian, sometimes Julian, sometimes G-lee-en (not as bad as Triumph In The Skies' Zoe), I do not know this actress. At very first glance I knew she had major work done to her face. If you think why Funn should you concentrate on her looks when acting skills should matter, well TV is something you watch, meaning you see. I can't help it; if actresses go to a cheapskate plastic surgeon or did extensive facial work, I am bound to notice it. I can't ignore it. I googled her original face and she did her eyes, her nose and not sure what else. Her makeup doesn't help. Her hair which was long at first is a wig but I question if her short hair is also a wig. She looks like this Mainland Chinese actress, Sun Fei Fei whose face is pretty but is so plastic she could hardly emote anything. Lisa is still young, her work is a lot but not enough to kill the muscle on her face, so yes, there's quite a lot of emoting. But I can't help it; she looks so plain weird, it is just embarrassing to watch. The surgeon did a terrible job. That being said, the pity is this girl has serious acting chops. She can act! True! She can! I mean she was more than competent. But her face, I just can't get over her face. It was scary, like one scene she suddenly appeared to catch Ron going through Waise's stuff. She looked very very scary.

OTHER CHARACTERS & PERFORMANCES
Miu Miu is annoying like hell. But the actress May Chan is good. I know the voice is annoying with the babytalk voice but I do think it was deliberate. But yes I agree, I wanted her to just shut up. Strangely though, Miu Miu is the character with the voice of reason many times over.

Becky Lee is Denise pronounced as Dennis. Poor girl, forever the unwanted unloved one to the hero, in this case Marco Ma. If Marco had married Denise, all would have been perfect. Denise is a loyal friend and lover, she never betrayed Marco and even till the end she would visit Marco. Becky the actress did a very good job. I enjoyed her performance even if she looked very very very sad with too much lip gloss.

Madam Sinn is another interesting character that fades in and out of the story that at times she seems pointless. Kiki Sheung did well as the stern but loving mother. Her scenes with Ron are very good to watch and Ron always does well when with a veteran. As if he suddenly feel "Eh I gotta do better in this scene because it's Kiki Sheung man!!!". That sort.

Can you believe Jason Chan has a role in here? Yeap! As a hot shot young lawyer named Alvis. Seriously, this man is good looking, he speaks good English with an English accent, and when he doesn't talk, when he just stand there and do nothing, say nothing and just smirk, he really looks the part. But then he had to speak. He is TVB's worst siu sang and yet he would have been perfectly cast as Tony Hung's character in Rear Mirror with all the fidgeting and the unsureness in his speech. Pity he is often cast as someone so very confident in himself and yet I feel he doesn't have that.

Not sure who is the actor who plays the bad cop who laid a trap for Sap Chai and his gun. He was thrown into the sea and drowned though I am not sure if it was on Marco's order or the boat people wanted his money and threw him into the sea. Looks the part, plays the part well.

I don't know who is the actor portraying Kwong King Cheong but I will bet his character's name is the most spoken of character apart from Hung Kwok Tung because the series started with these 2 characters. His character is also one of the few surprises in this series; he had nothing to do with Hung Kwok Tung's death or even Sap Chai's death. Funny never seem to declare this gangster as "worse than To Yee Hang" despite the fact that he was head honcho for Marco then Matt then To then Scarlet and then himself. And he has the happiest ending next to Matt; he got away with ALL his crimes because no one seems to be arresting or investigating him. The actor did fantastically well. He really looked like his character.

The actor who portrayed Hung Kwok Tung is the catalyst of this series and yet I do not know his name nor can I comment on his performance since he has so few scenes. But his death was dramatic.

SOME NITPICKING
The PP Vs May case is strange. I mean the arguments were well put forward; Roger did well and presented well and they were all logical. But the downfall for the case which is the fingerprints is also the downfall of the logic. Fingerprints on the bags is easily explained; she works there, she must have touched the bag. Why she kept the bag can also be explained; she panicked. She didn't have criminal record so she is not a seasoned criminal. Her reaction is expected. Why she told no one can also be explained. Ah Fo is her boyfriend, he is a violent man, if she tells he might kill her or maybe she loves him too much to betray him. The fingerprints on the necklace which was given by Hung Kwok Tung to his fiance/wife is harder to explain; but no one can say when Hung showed the necklace to his fiance/wife, May did not touch it in admiration or something. Doubt can be cast. It doesn't make sense at all in that sense.

VERDICT
Very good entertainment, very good series, well written for some characters, very well acted generally and for the first time, a series with a proper end for every character. The ending is one that I really really like. I like how bold it is, how controversial it can be and how in the end the anti hero never became the hero. He remained the anti hero or rather the villain. Now that is bold writing. Sadly the others had to be black or white which is disappointing but illustrates how frustrating for a man like Matt who lives in the real world whilst the rest live in their la la land. This is a series populated by villains, so I am sure you will find one to hate, one to pity and one to like. My bet is hate To Yee Hang, pity Matt at some point and like Marco Ma.

A must watch because even if it just a decent series, it is a very good decent series.

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Ghost Dragon of Cold Mountain / 寒山潛龍 [TVB][2014][R] Funn Lim

Written by Funn Lim

One thing was absolutely dismal and total fail with this series; the kung fu. It was so terrible, so amateurish, so inadequate, it is not even worth reviewing this aspect.

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

RELEASED IN
2014

NO. OF EPISODES
30

CAST-CHARACTERS
Kenneth Ma - Chu Cheung Sing
Pierre Ngo - Ngau Tai Lik
Power Chan - Ma Chuen Kung
Selena Li - To Fa / Yan Mei Leung
Lin Xia Wei - Yeung Mau
Raymond Cho - Hung Sap Kau
Lau Kong - Fung Nam Tin
Ram Tseung - Emperor
Law Lok Lam
Cheung Kwok Keung - 4th Duke/Royal uncle
Mary Hon - Empress Dowager
Candy Chang - Wan Ling
Eric Li - Sheh Pak Nin
Kelvin Leung
Hoffman Cheng
Jonathan Cheung - Jin's prince

SYNOPSIS
The Tin Kei Agency of the Northern Song, an investigation agency specializing in solving strange cases in the kingdom, is headed by the wise Fung Nam Tin (Lau Kong), who leads a group of extremely well-trained constables. His favorite apprentice, Chu Cheung Sing (Kenneth Ma), is wisdom and courage embodied in one, but Nam Tin and Cheung Sing end their partnership when they fail to come to a consensus on how to solve a particular case. Cheung Sing ends up leaving the agency to live a simple and peaceful life with his wife, To Fa (Selena Li).

Ten years later, the aging Nam Tin orders three of his most-skilled apprentices – Ma Chuen Kung (Power Chan), Ngau Tai Lik (Ngo Ka Nin), and Yeung Mau (Lin Xiawei) – to reach out to Cheung Sing and convince him to return. Cheung Sing agrees to work with the agency again, but his personality often clashes with his three partners, causing the four to frequently fight. Meanwhile, Cheung Sing is separated from his wife, but his feelings become conflicted when he ends up meeting a prostitute who looks exactly like her.

Cheung Sing learns that the opposing Jurchen kingdom has placed a mole within the Tin Kei Agency and his good friend, Hung Sap Kau (Raymond Cho) is exploited by the enemy. Cheung Sing does not know whom to trust. The line between friend and foe continues to be blurry. [Jaynestars]


FOR MORE INFO
Some episodic reviews here at http://www.point2e.com/2014/07/o-ghost-dragon-of-cold-mountain-tvb2014.html

COMMENTS
Originally billed  as a return to wuxia until the story proper begins and it is nothing about wuxia. It is in fact a modern concept of a series with semi pseudo modern lingo throw in everywhere purportedly in the Song Dynasty which could have been Ming Dynasty for all I care and with characters doing things that I don't suppose anyone will understand. For one, what is this "Tin Gei Agency"? What does it do? Why is it there? Why the people in the town who knows the officers in "Tin Gei Agency" doesn't seem to know them when they're supposedly in disguise whilst looking the same or are they in another town? Is this Infernal Affairs in ancient time? And oh no, not another twin sisters storyline!!

But you know what? I like it. I was charmed by it. It has its good points as well as many many bad points but the effort and sincerity in the performances are good enough reasons to give this series a chance. Just a chance because I am sure you may be tempted to give up after 3 episodes. If you keep going, it takes a good further few more episodes to like this series and by the end of it, if you persevere, it has one of the most complete and to me satisfying ending in a TVB series. It is not Brother's Keeper crap or Ruse Of Engagement sadness; it is hopeful and for some, joyous.

The story itself is confusing. It tries to be too modern with the modern lingo and concept.

For example, Cheung Sing's wife suing for divorce based on Cheung Sing's adultery with her evil twin sister, Yan Mei Leung. Looks good in modern times but in olden times, if she succeeded and in a highly moral society like Song Dynasty, Cheung Sing and Yan Mei Leung would have been drowned. So it made no sense, but it made for a rather romantic moment as Cheung Sing repeatedly and forcefully tells Yan Mei Leung he couldn't care less about her. In fact, he couldn't care less about his unborn child "baking" in Yan Mei Leung's body which to me is nice to watch. It is realistic. This man is not gonna give up on the love of his life over a fetus.

Then there's the medical procedures, etc which made me see this series is pseudo Criminal Minds meets CSI meets FBI meets CIA. "Tin Gei Agency" has more characteristics of FBI (investigating federal crimes) than just a simple investigative bureau. They only investigate cases that falls within national crisis, like deaths of ministers, etc although after a while they investigate basically everything.

The story is nothing amazing, not consistent and you will need to suspend logic and well and everything your mind is telling you, such as this is a silly series. There are times I wonder where is the consistency, at most times I wonder "how on earth???" where the plot needed to proceed and didn't do too well in bridging between 2 scenes to proceed credibly. This is especially so during "Yan Mei Leung disguising as To Fa" scenes. There were too many things Yan Mei Leung seems to know about To Fa to make any of those scenes credible. It was quite simply too convenient.

Some characters had you wondering "are they, aren't they" which at times make for good suspense but at most times just confuses the hell out of me. When there is a spy in "Tin Gei Agency" and we know that much earlier on, we are left wondering who can that be? It was pretty obvious but not quite sure.

At first I suspected Sheh Pak Nin but he turns out to be a loser and nothing else. Disappointing though because this character could have turned out to be either redeemed hero or ultimate loser and he was the latter. I was hoping he would be redeemed when half way through the series Chuen Kung told Cheung Sing that Pak Nin lost his confidence due to the presence of Cheung Sing and I was really hoping Cheung Sing would try to help Pak Nin to find his groove again. Unfortunately the series needed a villain and Pak Nin was it. Poor Eric Li.

Then I suspected Chuen Kung because I like the potential dilemma; his father was framed as a traitor and so potentially he had every reason to turn on the Song Dynasty although it is shown earlier on Chuen Kung was steadfastly loyal to the emperor, his boyhood friend as well as saviour (the emperor saved his life from execution and becoming sort of stateless when his father was declared a traitor). Towards the end I was really hoping his father WAS a traitor or was a mole and so the son will continue his work. But then, that would be a great insult to what a great guy Chuen Kueng was. So in the end I am quite pleased he turned out to be a hero although he also had me guessing who he loved and guess what? His ending is very satisfying as well.

So in the end it was the chief of the agency who became the PM, that was Fung Nam Tin. You probably have guessed he was the one but yet, there is something you can emphatise with this Fung Nam Tin. He probably became a Song citizen longer than he was a Jin citizen. He was placed as a mole since very very young and he worked his way up which shows he was a capable man. He seemed to genuinely care about the emperor but we all know that is a fallacy. But he also seemed to genuinely care about his subordinates, like Cheung Sing whom he treated as his own son, his 2nd chance at life to Tai Lik, his gentle approach to Yeung Mau and his leadership with his agency. Like how Cheung Sing said in the end, Fung Nam Tin treated them with kindness, so was he a bad person? I find Fung Nam Tin very intriguing for the fact that he is a mole, he probably believe in his country's case and he was probably quite conflicted with his dual identity. His sorry ending was in a way bittersweet eventhough frankly he had zero chance at what he was doing. I find that the revelation of his deviousness half baked and rushed.

Then there was the 2 strange characters.

The emperor is one strange man. Many times he showed himself a kind person but useless. It was agreed he wasn't a good candidate to be emperor, and he only got the position because I believe his brother died young. He never wanted the position anyway. Many times this emperor had me wondering was he pretending or was he really that dumb? Let me assure you most of the time he was really that dumb. However his ending was to me the best ending for this series. In fact anyone questioning how will he survive will be answered by Chuen Kung himself. No half done or half baked ending. His ending was complete and the most joyous one for his situation.

The 4th duke/royal uncle is also strange. First he was the villain, trying to take over and supplant the emperor and he became sort of mad with anger when he failed and was imprisoned in a temple for the rest of his life. Even his eunuch was devious and I thought that was the end of his story until of course he will be revealed as the ultimate villain. Well, I was wrong. Fung Nam Tin was the ultimate villain and the 4th duke's story did not end when his bid for the throne ended. In fact the 4th duke's story has a rather strange twist and in the end a good one which redeems his character and just shows in the beginning all his wariness and suspicion over the emperor and Fung Nam Tin was justified.

But for me, I enjoyed this series because of a few interesting reasons. Some you may agree, some may baffle you.

I really do enjoy Kenneth Ma's performance in a limited sort of way. He looks great in this series, however I still dislike how he manages to "wimp" his every character by simply being really bad at showing sadness or crying. I hate how his character became so wimp like towards the end, nothing heroic, and certainly nothing suave. That being said, I also find him effectively funny when he is needed to be funny or cute or humorous. Just don't expect him to be great at the dramatic parts. Not a bad performance in my book and one of his better ones.

Surprisingly I also enjoyed Selena Li's performance. I will even declare this is her breakthrough performance and by her own standard, it is her best ever. And I stress, her own standard because a better actress, or rather a more nuanced actress would have been better than Selena Li. You can see she tried really hard in 3 different personalities and it shows. As To Fa, she was silly, not so bright (but not stupid either) and loud as the supportive wife of Cheung Sing. As Yan Mei Leung, she was dark, brooding, devious and a very very very angry woman. The third character was in the last episode she is the changed Yan Mei Leung who more gentle, refined and a happier person. I can certainly see the differences in all these 3 distinct personalities and I salute her for a job (or jobs) well done. However she seems rather OTT in the first 2 personalities, that to make the difference she has to be so totally and very very different which makes her performance not as great as it should have been. But she has improved a lot, she made the effort, she did her part(s) and kudos to her breakthrough and best performance todate.

I thoroughly enjoyed Raymond Cho's performance. He may be too old for this sort of character but he happens to excel as the goofy guy in this series who provides the comedy and the drama as well. I really enjoyed his chemistry with the male cast and although Candy as Wan Ling was not the best performance ever, they shared this cute chemistry together, mostly because of Raymond Cho. I also love how cute Raymond Cho was with Law Lok Lam. Have you ever imagined Law Lok Lam, the man with such a fierce and serious face with a very serious demeanour and a serious reputation as an actor (although a caring one) could be cute and funny? Yes he was! Check out his many cute moments when he was with Raymond Cho, especially the later scene where his character was facing the emperor waiting for rewards. It was just a little or small gesture but any gesture capable of bringing out the cuteness in this awesome well respected titan of a veteran is much appreciated.

I also enjoyed Pierre Ngo's performance as Tai Lik. He seemed like a ruffian at first and I thought for a while he may be an eunuch (how awesome would that be?!) but in the end he has a heart of gold. His character went through a huge change, for the better and even his complexion got smoother towards the end. Pierre Ngo is a dependable actor when in the right role and in here, he is supporting at best but he manages to stay within the eyesight of viewers and yet does not grab the limelight from others. In short, he is a team player and I enjoyed his performance.

I never liked Lin Xiawei. I never considered her pretty and I never liked the way she talked with that baby voice but luckily, she turned off the baby voice and adopted a serious voice. If her Yeung Mau is a tomboy, she failed. But if her Yeung Mau is strong and steadfast in her duty and person, then yes, she did well. However I never liked Lin Xiawei for reasons I do not know why. I just don't like her and so whilst she was ok as Yeung Mau, for me she didn't stand out nor should she since she is not the leading lady. Yes her face may be the biggest in the poster, bigger than Selena but the truth is she is at best supporting.

The one I absolutely love is Power Chan as Chuen Kung. That man is pure arrogance but I don't think he knows he is arrogant. He knows himself as very smart, the smartest of them all, very capable and very wise and he doesn't seem to know it offends people since he knows he is just that sort of a person and everyone should just accept that. Many times in earlier scenes he always declared himself as the most capable. He is in fact the most capable and should be leading the departments or even as the main top guy or even the PM. However he is not and I will assume he is the most important, respected and with the highest profile of anyone in a lowly position as his. But he is wise and perhaps the best representative of the Song era and none of the modern lingo and jargon we hear. He is the "what if" for me; meaning if the series were properly written in the way Chuen Kung best represent it in terms of his speech and in his seriousness, perhaps this series would have been a classic. Chuen Kung also happens to have perhaps a great unexpected ending and he also has the distinction of uttering my most favourite line in this series (not verbatim);

Your majesty, a person should only be concerned with 3 stages in life; past, present and future. Since whatever happened has happened, why worry about the past? Since whatever is going to happen you can't know, why worry about the present? Since whatever is going to happen has yet to happen, why worry about the future?

That line hit me like a runaway train. Very very wise and a complete gem. Who knew TVB actually had smart writers writing such a classy line eh? By the way Power Chan even got the chance to repeat his famous line from The Confidant (the one about the fiery phoenix) and in this series, he did it in a masculine way. I really do understand why Chuen Kung got all the attentions of the ladies!


But sadly, the writing isn't as classy for the rest of the series. This is such a confusing series. The title suggests a good wuxia series about the wulin world but it is so far removed from that. The English title is deceptive. The dynasty suggests it is about moral, law and justice but this series isn't really that. The content suggests a smart olden day Ruse Of Engagement sort of story; a mole within the organisation with a huge emotional back story but that was never properly realised, never properly told. It was more of a climax rather than the story itself, meaning it meant to shock more than assist in telling a complete story. The characters are fun to watch but in the end dragged down by the modern lingoes, modern concept and nothing resembling the olden days of Song Dynasty or any dynasty for that matter. It never felt Song, never felt ancient. In fact it would have been better to set this in Ming Dynasty to show highly skilled corrupt eunuchs but then there's no story of the barbarians or invaders like the Jins. Hence the necessity of this dynasty. The story is not consistent enough to be compelling but there were some moments where the story is good enough to chase and this was towards the end. The beginning of this series is more on investigations which were rather fun to watch but again bears no resemblance to the route it will eventually take for the ending. Like I said, not consistent but rather enjoyable to watch.

However 2 things were absolutely right with this series.

The costumes are good even if limited. And the scenery is jaw droppingly awesome, all filmed in China and is the redeeming factor of this series, apart from Power Chan. I love the natural surroundings, I can see Hengdian I believe but the temple where 4th Duke was supposedly imprisoned was amazing looking. You have got to see it to believe it. It may not felt like Song or ancient dynasty but these scenery and locations made this series look credibly well budgeted for a series set in ancient times. You can't fault the locations.

One thing was absolutely dismal and total fail with this series; the kung fu. It was so terrible, so amateurish, so inadequate, it is not even worth reviewing this aspect. In fact this series consciously knows how terrible it is that there are very very very few scenes of major kung fu moments and even if there were, they were mostly short. I find it very sad that TVB who were once rather good with all those kung fu in ancient series could be so terrible in this series. Maybe lack of good practice. TVB hasn't made any decent wuxia series in recent years. Maybe it is time to bring out the trampoline and go back to basics.

VERDICT
A good entertaining series that many will find elements to enjoy. I certainly enjoyed it very much, much to my surprise.

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STORM IN A COCOON / 守業者[TVB][2014][R] Funn Lim

Written by Funn Lim

I can't say to ignore the last 2 episodes and how bad the editing was and how rushed it was as well but the last 2 episodes should not be used to deny the greatness of this series. 

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

NOTE
This review is a companion piece to the episodic commentary which you can read here.

RELEASED IN
2014

NO. OF EPISODES
32

CAST-CHARACTERS & SYNOPSIS
Please refer to Wikipedia

COMMENTS

I realise the Poon family is very very very forgiving.

Family forgives Ka Sing for killing Hau Yee and everyone is agreeable that Hau Yee would have forgiven him too. And Ka Sing spends the rest of his life helping others in repayment of this "debt".

Family forgives Ka Hin for sorta killing the father. He didn't actually do the actual killing but he did scold and threaten and do all sorts of act short of plunging the knife into the old man's heart and the father had a stroke and became incapacitated. The actual killing is by Cheung Chi Yan but it is fair to say Ka Hin put his already frail father into a very delicate situation. And the entire family forgives Ka Hin. Also he did kick his mother out, chased the workers away and they all forgave him. Chor Gau's death was not his fault and poor Chor Gau was very nice to stress that TWICE before dying. I suppose everybody knew he was used by the dastardly Cheung Chi Yan.

No one questions exactly what did Poon Weng Nin did to Ka Hin's mom. We know he had a wife whom he loved very much, he needed a son to secure his position and so he made his maid pregnant and gave birth to Ka Hin, knowing that the maid was in love and involved with Cheung Chi Yan. And he chased Cheung Chi Yan away. What is not said is he raped the maid. But the maid could have volunteered, because frankly series never mentioned what exactly did he do which resulted in Ka Hin. I mean they had sex, but was it voluntary? Did the wife tell the maid to do it? The fact that she felt so much injustice suggests to me that it was involuntary and perhaps the wife had something to do with it. Poon Weng Nin was quite a bastard and yet no on questioned that. In fact for Ka Yeung those were the older generations' problems, should not be exacted its revenge on the younger generation.

Bing Bing forgave Ka Yeung for using her to get to Cheung Chi Yan. Frankly I don't think she cares for her father one bit, and rightly so even if frankly Cheung Chi Yang could have been a good guy driven mad by his love for his wife (Bing Bing's mom) and his thirst for revenge for the man who took away his wife's purity and mobility. But then Ka Yeung was so loving to Bing Bing that he took all the guilt and left none for her. How can Bing Bing ever hate him for more than 1 episode?

Lai Kuen suddenly forgave Bing Bing and Ka Yeung. Frankly she had nothing to forgive them for since her brother was the one at fault and her mother as chinese said "grew a horn on her forehead" so to speak. But the sudden forgiveness is jarring and inconsistent with how much hate spew from her mouth and very very monotone delivery of lines which is pretty scary. Editing problem. I am sure in the middle there was a story leading to that forgiveness.

AND ALL THESE happened within 9 months of Yin Foon's pregnancy and subsequent birth. So many things happened on 9 months! I bet it was no more than a year from Hau Yee's death to Yin Foon giving birth. The timeline is a bit too fast. And if there is a sequel, WWII will probably drive the Poons to HK.

You know how much I love Steven-Tavia combination and I love their love story too except for Bing Bing leaving Steven for 1 episode. I detested Matt Yeung in Outbound Love who was busy reciting his line without any emotion but in here, his death scene was heartbreaking. Maybe because he has better chemistry with Natalie Tong. His death served a purpose; drama, grief and to show Ka Hin is not a complete monster yet. He did try to save Chor Gau.

But I don't get Natalie Tong's character. I remember in the beginning she was cheating money and then held many gold bracelets or something like that and suddenly the story shifted and giving her a more humane story. I believe somewhere in the middle something was changed. Whatever the change may be, her story is unnecessary and I find her love for Chor Gau unconvincing mainly due to lack of development.

Of all the characters in this series, I really like Poon Weng Cheung and his wife's story. They were the supposed villains but in the end redeemed themselves or as Ka Yeung said of his uncle that he actually had  a backbone when the uncle refused to compromise his integrity and his wife actually was quite accurate in all the things she said to Ka Hin before she left. In fact this couple knew more than everybody else except Cheung got one fact wrong; Ka Hin was the son of Poon Weng Nin. But this couple, especially Weng Cheung the dastardly uncle had a very good ending that I feel was a proper way to begin and a proper way to end.

The next character I grew to like and respect is Ka Hin's nosy and not so smart wife, Yin To. Yes she had a bad mouth, she is a poor judge of character but in the end she was the one who questioned Ka Hin when Pik Wan herself failed to do so. Pik Wan asked but Pik Wan never really openly questioned Ka Hin. She loved him too much. And here lies this series greatest moment(s); Ka Hin was loved by Pik Wan and Yin To and yet both women reacted very differently to the challenges regarding Ka Hin. Pik Wan chose to die with Ka Hin whilst Yin To chose to lie and give Ka Hin his life. Very moving moments, and Ka Hin is a lucky man who have been loved so deeply by both women. And I like his ending where he learned to love and appreciate Yin To. Not to say Pik Wan died needlessly but it is funny how Yin To never thought of death whilst Pik Wan chose death as a way out.

Hau Yee is one character that is mentioned from episode 1 to the last episode. Her influence is great on the actions of everyone even if her presence is missing. Hau Yee turns out to be a very very flawed person but as Ka Yeung said, she was only human restricted by the unjust laws of the village. Same goes for Kwok Leung who may be a bastard but was not a murderer. The biggest change was Yin Foon (not through editing or change of story but proper change) whom I thought was gonna be the usual bad mouthing small minded villain but surprise surprise, once she fell in love, she actually matured and it was Lai Kuen who was the bad mouthing small minded villain.

I may dislike the last 2 episodes, from episodes 1 to 30 highlights what TVB can do with some smart storytelling, good location and a set of good actors. There were so many unexpected twists and turns, first with who killed Hau Yee and then what did Cheung Chi Yan wanted. Along the way various problems, mysteries and romantic love. The last 2 episode prevented this from being a classic in terms of storytelling but these 2 uninspired episodes and the uninspired ending does not ruin the entire series at all, just made it out of character.

Needless to say, the performances is for the most part solid.

Steven Ma is not the best actor nor is he the most expressive but he has been through ups and downs and rumours and gossips and has matured as a person and as an actor. Whilst he was hated in his debut as Kangxi in Duke Of Mount Deer, I felt he had potential even if raw. Frankly over the years he is still raw, very raw. But he has a quality that is very very similar with Felix Wong; a certain sense of likability and a sense of heroism that even if he is a villain, he had to be a villain with a purpose that we can all empathise with. He is definitely a viewers' actor, with an ability to be well liked in any role he takes on even if we can't agree on his acting abilities. He isn't Bowie Lam but he is almost Bobby Au Yeung except Steven has to be the hero and nothing else. Even if he was a hero downtrodden and tepped on, we will cheer him on. His performance in here is I can consider his best thus far. His character is very well written with very good lines and does things that is within the usual real life expectations and not just TV sort of life. I like how he breaks the rules to save someone all the time and to him black and white is not a definite black and white. His Ka Yeung is educated, well mannered, understanding and compassionate and yet he is also forceful and knows what he wants and gets it without walking over dead bodies. There is something very honourable about Ka Yeung and he is one of my most favourite heroes on TV, apart from Seung Chi from Safe Guards who is also played by Steven Ma.

Tavia Yeung is someone I kept saying does not look like a heroine or is able to hold up a series on her own. I stand by that. But she is also one actress who is at her best when she is partnered with Steven. In fact she, Fala and Linda Chung all do their best when with Steven. The chemistry is there, you know they like each other as people and yet they're able to show the romantic side despite not being romantically involved in real life. A simple eye contact, a simple hand holding.. I don't know, I wish Tavia or Linda or Fala marries Steven and make us all happy. Tavia's performance in here is at first very very jarring. Someone told me she is the most glamorous looking village girl. It really isn't her looks but rather the amount of lip gloss and make up put on her to make her look "natural". Tavia looks best with less make up. The look normalises when she marries Ka Yeung because she dresses better so there is a consistency. But the lip gloss bothers me a lot. It does nothing to add to her performance, I feel it held her back. Ignore the gloss, the amount of makeup, the nose, everything and what you have is Tavia in one of her best performance. She didn't have to do much really, but there was so much more in so little displayed. She started out talking loudly but that is to show her nature as someone who dares to speak up. Quite annoying at first but as she settled down and speaks normally, I love the tone of her voice, a little bit raspy (probably sore throat) but very gentle. My most favourite scene of her is that scene under the bridge on the boat as Steven held her hand and kissed her hand gently. Her face shows us all how deeply she is in love with that man. I love also the declaration scene of "Yes! I am a widow! Yes I am marrying again!". Very beautifully written with dialogue sure to be remembered for long.

Evergreen Mak was also competent. I see a huge change in his from being nice docile Ka Hin to angry jealous Ka Hin back to wiser nice Ka Hin. The eyes speak volume even if I quite dislike the way he delivers his line when he is near tears. He tends to go up very high pitch which is distracting. However his Ka Hin is interesting to watch. The unloved son. I feel he had every cause to be as angry as he was except maybe it was totally uncalled for to pin his anger and jealousy on Ka Yeung. But his father deserves his comeuppance in the sense for treating Ka Hin unfairly over the years mainly due to his own shame and guilt.

Maggie Siu's role is in the end not much to contribute. I think even the writers' don't know what to do with her so they just killed her off. I never knew how youthful she is until I saw her in this series; lacking make up, years older than Tavia but her every wrinkle and every line (not much by the way) enhances her performance and her beauty. She has hardly aged. Wonderful performance and Pik Wan has such a sad life.

Natalie Tong improved a lot but she is in a role that had me scratching my head as to her purpose. She is less dramatic these days though which is good. And she matches very well with Matt Yeung.

I don't know what is wrong with Matt Yeung. You can't say he is bad and yet you can't say he is good. He was at his worst in Outbound Love but in here, his Chor Gau is likable and a simpleton.

Tracy Ip impresses me with her performance. She is beautiful, she speaks her lines clearly and well even if in a higher pitch and she can act very very well. I thought her performance in here is one of the few I look forward to every night, like what she's gonna say and how she's gonna react. I also like that her story has a nice ending instead of some tragic end and hows her character to be a strong woman who can withstand the bad times.

Akina Hong is one of my most anticipated actress in any performance she gives. She is amazing as an actress in the sense same tone, same look, same face and yet she can play all sorts of characters. In restrospect her Hau Yee is a woman of substance even if she has a lot of skeletons in the closet. She ran the factory, the plantation and as a woman, she had to held back her greedy uncle and the unreasonable villagers. Akina Hong certainly displayed the woman of substance character very very well and although her character died earlier on, fans of Akina will be happy to know she is featured heavily in a lot of flashback scenes.

Katy Kung and Cilla Kung, two Kungs who deliver their lines as different as night and day. Cilla tends to shout and yet in here she holds herself back and for once I felt this girl has the potential and she is very pretty. Katy tends to whisper and with her half closed eyes, she looks like someone ready to hypnotise you, whether to sleep or to full attention is up to your preference. Between the 2, I prefer neither. They're not ready for big time yet. If the likes of Tracy Ip is not ready, they're double not ready yet. But you can see vast improvement in their performances.

Yeung Chiu Hoi (I got the name from Wiki) is someone I do not know, but he looks like a cleanly scholarly handsome young man, akin to Steven when he was younger. Acting wise is raw but definitely not raw enough to make you want to switch off the TV. He looks good in costumes of that era.

Stephen Wong has grown up. In A Fistful Of Stances he was still a kid. In Brother's Keeper he suddenly grew up and in here, he looks like a man. Handsome, dark and these days, in menacing role. There will come a point he will graduate from menacing roles and become one of the leads. Performance wise, not much to comment on.

Stefan Wong has also grown up as an actor. I used to remember he was raw but in this series he actually acted very well. His role is small but pivotal.

Cheung Kwok Keung seems to be the lead actor amongst veterans these days. He has a huge role in Return Of The Silver Tongue and although he appeared half way in this series, his role is huge in its impact on everyone, much like how Hau Yee was in the first half. It was a great performance simply because there is consistency; he walks like an old man and he is an old man in this series. Cheung Chi Yan probably died not knowing if Bing Bing is his child.

I never thought Raymond Cho had such a short role. I thought nahhh he didn't die.. but he did. Shocking eh? One of the many shocks from this series. Competent performance as always from him.

The other veterans are flawless except for Elliot Ngok who to me is a bit jumpy whenever he delivers any line especially those near heart attack sort of lines. I do believe if Chun Pui was here, he would have been cast. Elliot is a good actor but nowhere near Chun Pui.

VERDICT

Exciting plot, unexpected twists and turns, great dialogue, memorable scenes, romantic scenes, war, death, betrayal, sex, this series has everything. Fans of Steven Ma and Tavia Yeung will love this series. I can't say to ignore the last 2 episodes and how bad the editing was and how rushed it was as well but the last 2 episodes should not be used to deny the greatness of this series. But it did deny this series' label as a classic. It could have been perfection and I was disappointed how it ended for many characters in the last 2 episodes but  it is near perfect and for many fans, this is indeed good enough.

A must watch.

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STORM IN A COCOON / 守業者[TVB][2014][R] Tb1

Written by Tb1

Steven’s performance and the imperfect, yet highly desirable well-written Ka Yeung character, are enough for me to recommend at least one viewing of this series.

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

NOTE
This review is the first in a series of character analyses. 

02.04.2014 :  Added the first part about Poon Ka Yeung/Steven Ma

RELEASED IN
2014

NO. OF EPISODES
32 

CAST-CHARACTERS & SYNOPSIS
Please refer to Wikipedia

REVIEW
Introduction
Let me start off by declaring Storm in a Cocoon took me out of my long break from TVB and revived my interest in its series. It has been at least 12 years since I actually watched a series from start to finish without giving up somewhere in the middle. It takes a lot to sit down and start a 20-plus episode series. I can’t remember the last time a series captured my attention, interest, and thoughts like Storm in A Cocoon did with its thoughtful storytelling, characters, dialogue, scenery, costumes, and musical arrangements. However, as much praise and love I have for this series, like Funn, I can’t place this series in the unforgettable classic category because of the last two episodes. This review is the first in a series of character analyses and will not be done all in one go. With that said, it is fitting to start with the central and protagonist, Poon Ka Yeung, as he was the driver of this drama series.

Character Analysis - All About Poon Ka Yeung
Although broken into two main plots, the series connected so well through the lives and events that befell the members of the Poon family and by extension, the village. Because of this, I feel the story took a backseat and the series was anchored by the characters. The death of Poon Hau Yee set off a storm of mystery, shock, twists, and finally a resolution that made the characters more real and pushed the viewers to think, reflect, and explore their own decisions and conscience. I will not go into detail but if one to explore the decision that Poon Ka Yeung had to make when he discovered the truth about Hau Yee’s death, a sudden realization will become more obvious – that each of us, at certain points in our lives, have faced similar dilemmas and tough decisions. What’s right and wrong? Should there be compassion and forgiveness because after all, nothing can be done now to right the past, but to learn from your mistakes, move on, and improve on becoming a bette! r person? As a viewer, I was pushed to think about my own decisions that often were made swiftly without much thought.

Poon Ka Yeung does not belong in pre-modern Republican era. He is a modern man with ideals representing independence, free thought, compassion, and individualism. Unyielding to societal norms, Ka Yeung questioned the traditions that conflicted with his experience, knowledge, and beliefs he acquired while exposed to the world outside of the village. He is not rigid and stubborn either and in one scene, while discussing the traditional practices of the Poon village with his brother, Poon Ka Hin, he declared that he was not challenging them, but will not accept such ideals either. Ka Yeung is also a very rational man with a strong ability to discern the situation before each decision. The best examples of Ka Yeung’s patience can be found throughout his investigation of his sister, Hau Yee’s, death. Facing devastating revelations about the cause of her death, he remained calm and listened while his partner, Tong Bing Bing, impusively jumped to conclusions and loudly s! colded him and the suspects. If he exists today, it will not be hard to imagine Ka Yeung doing great things for a society that lacks compassion and empathy for those who need help.

While he has many great qualities, he also has flaws as evident in his compassion, which gravely affected not only himself but those around him. He indirectly caused his mentor’s death by choosing to help the reprehensible Kwan Cho Yiu. Although Ka Yeung’s unquestionable and unconditional love for Bing Bing is very honorable, his selfless act in saving her nearly cost him his life. For Ka Yeung and for many of us, compassion can be a double-edged sword. How much can one do for strangers like what Ka Yeung did for many who received his help?

The ending was a disappointment. With his memory loss, the Ka Yeung we all loved was eradicated in not one, but two knocks on the head by flood debris. Outside of adding suspense, I can’t think of a logical reason why this was done to such an endearing character. Why TVB? Perhaps a sequel, remake, or even a modern interpretation was your intention? This sudden turn of events diminished Ka Yeung and all that he represented - a highly desirable, but very real and flawed human in which we can each identify. If TVB wanted to use disappearance and amnesia to wrap things up, then surely another episode or two would’ve helped in explaining what happened to him in the four years that he was gone. At this point, I don’t even begrudge the fact that it wasn’t a conclusive happy ending for our beloved couple. I fear Ka Yeung may have become a byproduct of either careless writing or ruthless budget cutting measures at the hands of TVB and its scriptwriters. Sigh.

Performance analysis - All About Steven Ma as Poon Ka Yeung
What to say about Steven Ma that many of his fans haven’t already expressed? Funn is correct about his onscreen connection with the audience. Ah yes, the likability factor he shares with Felix Wong. Ironically, both he and Felix fell out with TVB , but Felix was more vocal and direct with his criticisms. I’ve always been indifferent to Steven and found him one-dimensional, lacking in depth and versatility. He still slurs his line, and sometimes over exaggerates. When Ka Yeung was defending Bing Bing from accusations of adultery, he was a bit over the top and screaming his lines. However, this series has officially made a fan out of me. In Ka Yeung, Steven brought earnestness, passion, and refinement. Ka Yeung’s youthful and idealistic exterior hides a man of great pain, conflict, and torture from years of witnessing countless horrific deaths as an army medic. Similarly, Steven has nearly two decades of experience in show business and has weathered much critic! isms, gossip, and tragedy, and conflicts. In his Ka Yeung, Steven undeniably gave him the honorable and heroic traits, but for the first time in his career, he actually breathed some darkness to the character. In his quiet solitary flashback moments recalling the atrocities of war, Steven expressed emotions ranging from anger to regret without an utter of word. I’d like to see more of Steven playing more complex characters like Poon Ka Yeung, a role that allowed him to turn in the best acting performance thus far in his career.

Steven has amazing chemistry with Tavia. I wonder how many times they laughed together each time they share intimate scenes in this series. There were so many romantic moments, though subtle and not obvious, lends much greater realism – from handholding, eye contact, hugging, smiles, a small kiss on the hand, and dialogue – a lot of attention was given. As a viewer, you can see the natural body language both Steven and Tavia have in real life through their interviews, which explains the ease that both have when sharing the screen together. One scene, although without a kiss or gratuitous display of affection in sight, accurately depicts the love and realness of a married couple. It was in the kitchen and Bing Bing’s face was covered by hot steam in front of the boiling pot of soup. Ka Yeung made himself comfortable, wrapped his arms around her waist, placed his head on her shoulders, and observed that she had lost weight. Tavia didn’t flinch or was surprised ! at all with the very close contact. Steven didn’t appear apprehensive or awkward either. I can’t say the same for most other actors coupled in other series, except maybe when Steven shares the screen with Fala or Linda. I agree with Funn that they each bring the best acting in the other. And yes, I think we all would be ecstatic to see any of the three “sisters” married to Steven. They all have fondness and love for him.

Steven’s performance and the imperfect, yet highly desirable well-written Ka Yeung character, are enough for me to recommend at least one viewing of this series. Maybe, skip the last two episodes to save you from the subsequent disappointment and questions at the end.

VERDICT
A must watch!

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