DESTINATION NOWHERE / 迷 [2017][TVB] : A REVIEW

And finally, watch this series for something TVB rarely does; lovingly create a series that made sense, that talks sense, ends sensibly and is in the end about sense.

Reviewed by
Funn Lim

Released in
2017

No. of Episodes
30

Cast-Character

Kevin Cheng - Man Kiu Pak
Winki Lai - Man Tze Yu
Kristal Tin - Cal Kai Wing Yin
James Ng - Lam Ka Wing
King Kong - Cheung Hak
May Chan - Cheung Fei
Yvonne Ho - Nat Gor
Lisa Lau - Chiu Siu Hung
Jessica Kan - Chloe Ngai
Louis Yuen - Lau Tsau
Parkman Wong - Wong Sir
Tyson Chak - Kwan Kai
Becky Lee - Mary Cheung
Oscar Leung - Lee Dai Hing
Gary Tam - Ma Chi Bun
Max Cheung - Ngai Chit
Gary Chan - Yim Cheng Sum
Stephen Ho Kai Nam - Wat Dee
Gary Chan Ka Fai - Yim Ching Sum
Sam Tsang Hong Sang - Cal's husband

Brief Recaps
Ep 1-2 
http://www.point2e.com/2017/02/destination-nowhere-2017tvb-ep-1-2.html

Ep 3
http://www.point2e.com/2017/02/destination-nowhere-2017tvb-ep-3.html

Ep 4 
http://www.point2e.com/2017/02/destination-nowhere-2017tvb-ep-4.html

Ep 5
http://www.point2e.com/2017/02/destination-nowhere-2017tvb-ep-5.html

Ep 6-9
http://www.point2e.com/2017/02/destination-nowhere-2017tvb-ep-6-9.html

More info
Jaynestars

No Wiki page? Serious?

REVIEWS

I was ready to sink this series, and for the 1st 5 or so episodes where usually it will tell you whether to continue or to abandon ship, I was ready to abandon ship not because it was boring but because the storyline was disconnected or independent of one another. But I stuck with it, I persevered and as it went by, I have to say, this ship not only sailed, but it sailed fine and smooth. In the end it was one of the most pleasant journey for me, and definitely one of the best TVB series in recent years which actually had a good ending. In fact I really love the last ending scene.

Now for the long opinion.

By the way, this isn't a disappointment like Dead Wrong and I think there are some similarities with Black Heart White Soul except the ending of Black Heart White Soul was quite interesting and different.

THE PLOT

Mannnnn.... this series seriously took its own sweet time for 2 main characters to meet and a bit longer for all 3 main characters to meet. By this time either you're wondering if the characters are lost or we the viewers are lost (like its chinese title!) or TVB is seriously slowly, very slowly building up the story to something rather special. I have never seen such careful slow deliberate pacing in building up not just the plot but developing the characters. This series can boast perhaps the best in recent memory in terms of character development that I am sure you will feel for the characters. And there aren't many in terms of main characters. There are plenty of supporting characters, from evil to bumbling bad, all are carefully developed and yet quite coldly dispensed with. For example, the first few episodes there were 2 foreigners who were bumbling thieves who were not bad people. In fact they were very very funny and yet when their screen duties were done, they were quite coldly and unexpectedly shot dead and so their stories ended. Just like that. And the same coldness is used on every character that will be killed later on,some you will probably cheer, some you feel a tinge of pity because they are not bad people, some you will punch in the air and scream YES and one you will definitely see coming (I mean pretty obvious he was gonna die) but when you actually see it, you will feel very angered by it because at that point you will actually feel rather attached to him because he is the ultimate innocent good guy. In fact his death was the downfall of Cal because that was when Cal lost her humanity. Not to say later on she didn't lose more of her humanity because her last act as a sane human being was to try to push the man she loved to die together with her and her very very last act as a wide awake human being was to beg for death not because she felt sorry but because that was the only way to go.  That was why I like her ending. She deserved her end. Like how Pak said in the end, some people with sorry lives make bad judgment and you can choose either to turn back from that bad decision and start again and that means facing the consequences (like how Cheung Hak did) or refuse to admit your guilt and do more bad stuff (like Cal did). Cal lost her moral compass and she was not a bad person at first but there was always a tinge of selfishness to her. Whilst she seems to do many things that you may feel she did it for others, like taking $400k for her daughter, $4m for Wing to open a company, etc, she did so by taking bribes and betraying her principle which was very cheap to be sold. She always lamented if only she didn't take the 1st bribe but the fact is she did and she should have been strong enough to leave her greedy 2nd husband when she knew he was a bad man, she should have been strong to tell her daughter she can't afford her education in England and frankly, Wing never asked for the company at all. And then her problem was she wanted acceptance; she wanted people to understand why she did what she did and that was her downfall. Maybe what she said was correct; as she told Wing;

I have such a tragic life.. I lost the husband I love, I married a bad man who cheated me of all my money, my daughter who I love tried to blackmail me and then she got murdered.. I lost everything, absolutely everything and now you are asking me to confess, to go to jail. Why are you forcing me into the corner? Why can't you let me go? I am leaving HK very soon, you won't see me at all, why can't you just let me be?!

Perhaps true. I think if given time, Wing would have let her go. He lied he recorded her confession and what she did next was unforgivable. Wing was naive into thinking his goddess boss Cal will do the right thing but she was way past that and when she pushed Wing off the building, seeing poor Wing fell to his death so dramatically, frankly I hated Cal.

But none could describe Cal better than the 3rd man to love her and that was Pak. Pak fell for her when she was already flawed, and many times wanted reasons to believe in her but when Cal behaved the way she did and told an incredible lie about Wing, a lie that Tze Yue refused to believe and one which Pak found hard to believe as well, he began to suspect her. It was easy to investigate about her but finding the evidence was hard. You can say Pak used love as a weapon against Cal but he had to find out the truth. The more he knew, the more he felt Cal was not only selfish, but incredibly self serving and in the end scary. Whatever pity he had for her diminished each time she said something off hand which she thought was smart but he knew was a mistake on her part. When he found out the absolute truth (but not about Wing yet), he almost wanted to let her go when she said something offhand which was her way to manipulate him, or so she thought but that was when Pak realised this woman was scary and he was determined to find evidence against her. So he pretended. He always had the upper hand, whilst Cal thinking she was the smarter one never quite realised she already lost in this battle of wits. Frankly it was no battle at all. And throughout these times, I thought Cal will go insane and the revelation in the last 10 minutes was to me a fantastic end. I really do love how Tze Yue and Pak ended the series with a light banter and how life goes on.

If you rewind a bit, you can actually see that Cal was already doomed from the beginning. You see, there are 3 families in here. Cheung Hak despite his bad luck actually had a good ending as he started again. He found himself a great woman who loved him deeply despite his flaws but his flaws were merely cosmetic. He was never morally flawed. His sister whom he loved was also never morally flawed eventhough physically she wasn't perfect. Then there's Pak who was lazy and running away from work responsibilities, however he was also never morally flawed. He raised his niece who was also morally upright and when he was having a hard time at work, his niece cheered him on and even volunteered to have her allowance cut, she encouraged him to find a girlfriend and when he did bring one home, whatever her opinion was, she never said a bad thing about her. They depended on one another and her uncle, a good man raised his niece, a good woman. There's Wing a hard working ultimate good guy who is righteous as he was decent. Cal's lie about him goes to his character that almost everyone found it hard to believe. He was raised by a widowed mother who I suppose who was a decent woman as well.

Now we come to Cal. Her daughter turned out to be an absolute disappointment and between them two, there was as much of affection as was with animosity on her choice of a husband and the fact that she used up all the money left by her dead 1st husband (meant for Chloe's education) on that new husband of hers. Chloe felt deep resentment and never let Cal forget about that. In a way, Cal probably didn't raise Chloe well, and Chloe herself was flawed morally. Chloe's words against her mother was honest but deeply resentful and full of malice;

All the money left by dad for me, you used it on him. You questioned every penny I spent, you even stopped my auto payment, my own money! And yet you never questioned when he asked you for so much of my money, so much of your money, he is using you for your money and you gladly let him use you. You act as if you can't survive without him; is it so mom? Is it so that you just can't live without a man, is that it?!

When she died, brutally murdered if I may add, I felt no feelings whatsoever. By that time, whatever pity I felt for her was erased by the fact that she blackmailed her own mother, all because of money or in her words; "MY MONEY!". Kinda felt sorry for Cal but when she was so eager to move on and by her final act with Wing, same feeling as I felt when Chloe died. Nothing but disgust. These two deserved one another.

Perhaps that's what this series is trying to illustrate; choices one makes and who we grow up with or how we raise the other. You will be moved by Cheung Hak and Cheung Fei's devotion even if you feel terribly irritated by their presence for the first 16 episodes, wondering why are they there. You will feel very amused and touched by the closeness and devotion of Tze Yue and Pak and when Pak raised his voice at Tze Yue, as much as you feel her hurt and pain at being shouted by her most respected Uncle, you will feel Pak's heart was shredded to pieces having to raise his voice at his beloved niece. In fact he looked utterly devastated and you have a feeling he never had to even raise his voice a little at his well behaved niece. I loved how Tze Yue actually marched up to Cal's house to pack her uncle's belonging to bring him home, almost like how a son ran away from home and his mother came to fetch him. The devotion is clear. Her confrontation with Cal was almost scary because at that point I truly thought Tze Yue might be murdered by Cal. Cal was insane enough to do that. That was why I love Tze Yue's end scene with her uncle; a simple light hearted banter to signify life indeed does go on, which makes what Cal said as true; when Pak said he will wait for her and I do think he meant it, Cal cynically said;

You won't wait for me. You will move on without me. Even if you will want to wait for me, how can we continue when there's so much mistrust between us? I have lost everything, I can't go back. You have to let me go

She was right and I was happy Pak did sorta think about moving on. But perhaps his expression said it all when Tze Yue asked at the very end;

Uncle, I have always wanted to ask you, I just didn't know if I should... have you ever loved Sis Cal?

He never answered her and she happily tried to convince him to see a colleague she knows and he happily dismisses her effort as he said he is wary of female journalists now.

Frankly, you can debate if he did or did not, but I do think he did love her. The only flaw in that rooftop confrontation scene between Cal and Pak was when she screamed why he can't let her be, he said he was a cop. I felt that was just too PC talk. He should have just said because it was the right thing to do and killing Wing was the last straw to her humanity. Other than that, yes I do think he loved her and he loved her very deeply, enough to want to marry her which I feel is a bit of a stretch since he was investigating her at that point but whatever love or affection he had for her turned to disgust when she displayed her cold calculating manipulative ways and he began to doubt her sincerity and was convinced by her selfishness and even then he wanted to believe in her. In the end, I believe whatever affection he had for her turned to pity. And when enough time goes by, that pity will turned to nothingness and you can't blame him. It wasn't his fault she made her choices and turned out the way she did even if you can argue, technically he is the worst boyfriend for pushing her over the very last edge of her very last sanity. But as I repeated many times, for what she did to Wing, she had it easy in the end.

FAVOURITE CHARACTERS

There are so many characters in this series, some for a short time, some for a long time, all of them properly developed. Even the villains are good.

You often see unknown actors as the guy next to the supporting actor, in here you see those unknown actors becoming supporting actors getting major spotlight.

I don't know his name, but I often seen the actor who played Wat Dee. Man, that guy got quite a body doesn't he? He has played a whole range of characters but never one that gave him such range. Wat Dee is cruel, he kills without mercy, he is scary and he is a terrible person. And his death scene is memorable, harrowing, suspenseful and a proper send off to such a terrible evil person. And he dominates as the bad guy and he is so convincingly bad, many times you will feel scared for those people standing next to him. I rank him as my favourite bad guy in here.

There's the two bumbling foreigner thieves at the beginning who sadly met with very terrible ends that may not fit their crimes. They were funny! and sad at the same time.

There's Hung, the decent looking but turned ugly looking girlfriend of Hak who has a heart of gold. This series does try very hard to drive home the point that don't judge a book by its cover. She was the super dedicated woman crazily in love with Hak who in the end loved her back and she turned out to be a great supportive girlfriend. Can't help liking her and her bravery and in a sense her stupidity in going on the run with Hak. Hak is no super brainy person too. But I find it funny, those scenes where fans mistaken him with a superstar named Koo and I suspect that's Louis Koo because of their similar back.

And then there's my very favourite character, Wing. He shows himself as someone not only righteous but also kind. The kind words he said to Fei Fei can only come from a very decent person and there's no more decent person than Wing whose kindness killed him. He also has the distinction of having the most convincing fall from building and thereafter as a corpse, with the blood and all, it hurts to watch that scene. Fists will wave at Cal for what she did.

LEAST FAVOURITE CHARACTERS

The 3 bumbling thieves, that is Cheung Hak and his 2 fellow countrymen. This series is realistic in the sense of deep prejudice of mainlanders and the disadvantage due to their accent. They tried to find decent work, there were a few scenes where Hak wanted to bargain for a lower salary just to get a job and got rejected because there's a minimum wage law and so happily he got paid more than he asked for and yet when trouble looms, he is the first to get kicked out. Most of the time for good reasons because Hak often did more than he should and so troubles arose from his eagerness to do a good job. I don't really like these 3 not because they are bad people but because for 16 episodes and more, I couldn't understand why they were there.

MOST HATED

Three and they belong to the same family.

The greedy awful 2nd husband of Cal who became a constant irritant in her life. Am surprised she never killed him.

Then there's Cal and I have explained enough why I hate her.

But my very special "affection" for the hatred category goes to Chloe. She was impossible. The fact that she constantly talked about money is one thing, her constant battle of words with her step father and thus causing Cal much anguish is another, but her making Cal constantly choose sides is just terrible. However the ultimate was blackmailing her own mother, effectively calling her mother a man hungry woman who will die without a man (even if true, still coming from a daughter.. that's so low). She doesn't deserve to die that way or to die at all but no pity. What a terrible daughter. Can't blame Cal for her anguish when she said bitterly that her daughter blackmailed her, you can feel how it deeply affected her.

GUEST STARS

Only know Oscar Leung in one of his best performance for a character that was in this series for just a few episodes. His ending was shocking but it does make you wonder, is Wat Dee so scary that this scary follower of his is so scared of that guy? Well you get about 15 episodes or so to explain in full details that  the conclusion is yeah, Wat Dee is a scary dude.

THE PACE OF THE STORY

Pacing is slow, let's face it, this series can do much with chopping off 5 episodes at least and making all 3 characters meet much earlier than 16 bloody episodes. But one thing's constant;

This series began with a major corruption story that led to the corruption of Cal, literally and figuratively. There seems to be many branches to the story, from Wat Dee to a guy named Ma Chi Bun to ultimately Yim Ching Sum and in the middle many side characters who all ultimately lead to that story about illegal chemicals used in wall paint commissioned by government agencies. The entire series is about this one case and it may seem tedious, but for once, this is one series where you see a cop doing actual cop work. Pak actually investigates and he needs to get evidence, first against Wat Dee, then against Yim Ching Sum and also ultimately Cal. You see him pouring hours of work and many of which are guesswork and detective work. Starts with a theory and then proof to back it up. Can't find proof? There are ways to use to lead to that proof. Basically this series is more police work than many police drama you have seen. It's not just interviewing people, it is actually looking through old files, sitting down and brainstorming, doing character charts, getting files from other departments, making calls, finding informants, leg work, car driving, spying, setting up equipments, doing reports, reporting to superiors, getting permissions to do something and yes, even on procedural stuff like how to keep Wat Dee in lock up for more than 2 days (make sure you arrest on Saturdays or during public holidays next to weekends and more public holidays), getting warrant, etc etc. I was very impressed with the amount of good reasonable police work in here and I hope to see a TVB series where the same sort of stuff is afforded to lawyers or doctors, the amount of analysis, research, etc. At some point you get to see Pak about to make dubious choices as a cop that you will perfectly understand. My god, as I write this, I do feel I have watched a proper cop series from TVB for once!

However this series also have too much monologues. I was waiting for one of them to talk to the camera or as they say, breaking the fourth wall. Or make it Shakespearean sort of rant. Well you have that a lot with Cal. She rants a lot to herself, always when desperate or scared or questioning why won't they leave me aloneeeeeeeeeeeee moments. For Pak, oh so many talking in his head. He talks to himself a lot, and a lot in his head. At one point you get Cal talking to Pak and in her head she explains why did she so, and Pak same thing except he questions why and what and all that stuff. So if you are ever lost as to what they're talking about, no worries. They will explain to you in their heads. I am not minding this much because it shows Pak saying one thing, meaning another. He is no hypocrite, he is just questioning. But Cal, she did the same thing and the sense is she is manipulative and conniving and ultimately a hypocrite, an observation Pak had, in his head. Some viewers may feel Pak is also manipulative but there's good manipulative and then there's Cal. You can't beat her at her own game by being honourable. Look at what happened to Wing. Like Hak said when he was asked did he set the microwave to explode and thus killing the assistant of Wat Dee (who is also a very bad man) and of course he did not because Cal did and he immediately said "Wow, that woman is such a cruel heartless woman, she wanted to kill me too!". Very accurate observation. Whilst Cal was justified to kill the man who killed Chloe, to want to kill Hak was simply to kill all witnesses to her corruption crime and that was cruel.

And then there's the super tedious repetition. Again if you're lost at some plot points, like how did he find out, no worries. Most probably, this series will have Pak explain FROM THE BEGINNING and you get flashbacks that takes forever to finish. There goes another 20 minutes of flashback, so to speak. The first one on how he recovered his handcuffs was the worst. At that point I wanted to give up on this series as I have tweeted it really felt like it was Destination Nowhere, plot wise.

There's also seeing ghostly apparitions scenes except of course there's no ghost, just wishful thinking of some characters.

And also plenty of one person rants/monologues where it is spoken dialogue,  not just in the head. Like I said, quite Shakespearean theatre stuff.

All these amounted to at least 5 episodes too much for me. On the upside, you get to see, hear what the characters are thinking so you are never in any doubt whether Pak's good or bad, Cal's crazy or nice, etc etc. Takes the guesswork out.

PERFORMANCES

I think at the top of everyone's mind is how was Kevin and Kristal?

In fact there's 3Ks in here, Kevin, Kristal, King Kong.

KRISTAL TIN

Never a fan of hers but of course she can act. But like one observer who was watching this series with me said, in any given scene she is fantastic, but when you piece all her scenes together, it feels disjointed and it feels like a scene per scene performance. Like if she's happy in that scene, she's convincingly happy, if she's desperate, she looks really desperate but when the scene calls for happy to desperate, scene by scene next to one another, her performance falters because she is not convincing in the transition.

Frankly, that was what I said about Charmaine Sheh many many times and after hearing that, I gotta admit, my fellow viewer was dead right about Kristal Tin. It could be the editing is not as smooth, it could be in the writing, or it could be to show how Cal is descending into madness. But true, the transition is not only not smooth, it feels so jarring. There's no continuity to her character but there is also an advantage. If one scene she's so sad and then so calm, it does perhaps help to lend credence to the fact that Cal is one cold calculation woman and that she could be so calm when she was so desperate means a woman so in control of herself but yet others like Pak could see right through her fakeness. So in a way, that jarring transition helps her performance.

I am more concerned with the fact that I felt nothing for her Cal since day 1. First is because I never like Kristal even if she's a decent actress. But as the show goes one, it is because I feel Kristal does not have that quality of an actress who can grab people's emotion and latch onto them. Some actors or actresses could do so well that the viewers might begin to feel sorry for the villain even if the villain is terrible. Like how Roger Kwok was in any given role. Like some who despite doing bad stuff, you can't convince yourself they did it deliberately. You question if they are doing it for some reason. Some actresses are not good actresses but viewers like them and so feel for them. For me Kristal doesn't belong to that group. Her Cal should be someone that garners our sympathy and when she did the unthinkable, our hatred and finally when she begged Pak to let her go, maybe a tinge of sadness and ultimately when we see her in the final scene, sadness that she should become that way and only if she didn't take the bribe in the first place. Someone who when she said to Wing that her life was pitiful, you not only agree yes, plot wise but feel for her as well. Kristal to me lack that connection, I just don't feel that way about her so basically it was easy to dislike her and then to hate her and in the end feel nothing for her except "You reap what you sow" when it should have been "If only... if only..". Whilst her age is right for Kevin, she shares zero chemistry with Kevin. They don't look like a couple to me, I don't see the attraction and even if the relationship is one based on lies and wondering if at least Cal had ever loved Pak or vice versa, I don't feel the togetherness.

If I had a chance to recast, I would have loved to see Maggie Cheung Hor Yee in this role. She may not be the best actress, but she doesn't go OTT like Kristal who did well in desperate moments but I feel nothing for her desperation except on paper. On screen, I feel Maggie could portray Cal with whole background without showing me at all. No doubt Kristal might get at least a nomination for 2017 TVB awards, but there I feel is an actress who could do this better. In fact I will say why not get.. what's her English name now? Used to be Noel Leung? Leung Siu Bing? She once acted as the villainous Cixi if I remember correctly and she had my pity.

KEVIN CHENG

This series is touted as his last TVB series but I doubt it is for EVER. So no worries, he will be back. Am pretty sure like how fans reacted to Gallen Lo in Provocateur, you may also say the very first thing when you see Kevin; My god, how much he has aged!

Well, TVB saps your youth away, as much as a young girlfriend does! Ha! Don't get me wrong, I love Kevin as a celebrity person, but as an actor, it takes the right role. He found his breakthrough in either Ghetto Justice to some but to me it was Bu Bu Jing Xin (I refuse to call it by that stupid English title). He was so good in BBJX. In many ways Pak reminds me a lot of his performance in BBJX; don't give him anything too dramatic or if you must, nothing more than a few minutes because if any longer, you can see the flaws in his dramatic acting. He is perfectly suited for Pak; those sort where he is easy going, charming, nothing too over the top drama or comedy wise, and he reacts well to situation comedy by using his dead pan good looks and good humour. What surprises me was the depth of his performance. Let's face it, he was never in depth straight into your soul sort of actor, not even in BBJX. He played the elegant sophisticated but slightly troubled 8th Prince to perfection and he hardly raised his eyebrow in that series. He didn't even scream except maybe in despair. In this series, his performance of a not so elegant man is very elegant. I could find flaws but that makes Pak even more charming. I didn't like his Pak at first but unlike Kristal, I do think viewers can connect with his Pak very much as a single guy raising his only living relative. His chemistry with Kristal is nil but with Winki, it grows on me to the point I am convinced of their affection for one another. He's not supposed to be too old or much older than Winki's Tze Yue anyway so he is more like the fun uncle than the preachy parent uncle. He makes a convincing detective, the way he analyzes, the way he figures things out. He looks like an intelligent guy.  Frankly many times this series everyone figures things out very very easily but I like the process he goes through, how he sees one fact, eliminates, sees another, accepts, finds proof. Kevin is convincing as that sort of thinking rational calm man who doesn't overreact but strategize and formulates a plan. At first his Pak did the same thing but to irritating effect. Later as he grew into his police role, you will see that detective side of him using the same thought process. The last few episodes showcases Kevin's maturity as an actor doing dramatic stuff in a more convincing way. The way he had to shout at Winki's Tze Yue and how much you can see that that act of shouting at Tze Yue shredded his heart to pieces and in the end as he held on to Kristal's Cal as she begged to be let go and how much he wouldn't. Or the scene where he saw her again in prison and I can't describe his expression adequately except maybe disbelief, deadpan disbelief or something like that. This role is made for Kevin and I can't quite imagine another with his easy charm and mature way of dealing with things could do better than him. Kevin is like an old soul in a now aging body but sometimes there's that playfulness and there's that steady good natured humour. Having seen him in person, for me, Pak in the later parts does closely resemble the Kevin I have seen. In so many ways, I really like his performance in here which to me is one of his best and most steady consistent performance ever. It helps that his character is properly developed and there is a good ending for him so I do think, if this IS his last TVB series, EVER, what a way to go.

My heartfelt congratulations to Kevin for a job well done. Kudos you handsome charming devil.

KING KONG

His Cantonese improved a lot, even if still skewered. His Cheung Hak is someone you can like, I do like him even if I question  many times whether his character is needed or not. Frankly, I don't think his character is needed but his character with the character of Hung does provide for some special moments in this series. I do find his performance convincing as a hard luck mainlander who really wants to do a good job but bad luck and bad choices doomed him. His ending was uplifting as it should be. It was a good performance and a steady one throughout.

MAY CHAN

I really like May Chan but like for Cheung Hak, I wondered if Cheung Fei is needed. However her presence shows how kind Tze Yue and Wing were and also humanises Cheung Hak, if not Cheung Hak is just stupid without something to cheer on for. But her performance can be irritating. However I commend her for letting go. The scene where she was so upset at being fired that she cried her heart out by the sea and eating chocolates until her face, lips were messy with chocolate is not easy to watch but it is essential to show how much discrimination and biasness she faced due to where she was from. It does make her look ugly but in the end the one who's ugly is the people who mistreated her. There were many scenes where she is in scenes that many actresses may not want to be seen in, but May Chan was hired to do those ugly moments and she did them with aplomb. She was convincing when she is sad or silly or her affection and loyalty to her brother and I thought she was so convincing in those scenes where she was in pain and on the run. Yes she may talk in irritating high  pitched voice when she is sad or happy but she can act. I long to see her act with Vincent Wong again, they made a cute couple!

LISA LAU

I don't think many actresses will want to be Hung, more so when she is described as someone ordinary looking made worse by plastic surgery. Even without the fake big gum in her mouth, obviously this actress did too much surgery on at least her nose that she looks unnatural. It is not a pretty sight but in this supporting role, as the love sick and fiercely loyal Hung, she excelled. I enjoyed watching her banter with King Kong and if she wasn't in this series, King Kong would have been tedious to watch.

WINKI LAI

I admit I was critical of her at first. I did say she wasn't pretty enough to be Kevin's niece but I suppose if you put two very attractive people next to one another, they may cancel each other out. Over time I grew to like her Tze Yue. Her performance is pretty straight forward and is convincing as well. Her crying scenes were very well done, especially her grief at Wing's death or her absolute disbelief her uncle would choose Cal over her. She shares some amazing chemistry with Kevin who does look and behave like her uncle. She is the one with the most hairstyle changes and her last scene, where she lets her hair go and has shoulder length hair made her look very pretty but no, she can't play Kevin's lover. She is officially his niece for life.

JAMES NG

I wonder why his nickname is Kwan Gor. Anyway, must confess, he is not a pretty sight. I mean look at him; he ain't tall, he looks a tad big, he has nerd hair, nerd glasses, strange teeth and a very ordinary face that doesn't spell STAR. And yet, man I love this guy. He can act. Oh yes! He may be deadpan, like he can compete with Kevin on that and yet there is a very straightforward sincere way in which he delivers his lines. He does it without drama, without fuss, he doesn't use huge hand movements, he just delivers. In fact I think he can do his entire scenes sitting on an armchair and still can convince me his Wing is a decent guy. Some people exudes that quality, like Felix Wong, like Steven Ma and here, this guy exudes the decency of Wing so much that when Cal did him in, you will hate Cal for it. His Wing is not an easy character to play. How can anyone be so nice without being a boring at the very least or hypocrite at worst? Well, Kwan Gor can. He also has one of the most convincing death scene and dead body scene. But when you dismiss him by saying he can play easy going only, he steps up with that confrontation scene with Kristal, in one of the scariest moment and he handled himself well. He expressed his shock, disgust, then pleading for Cal to turn herself in, made a bad lie, and the moments before his death, pleading for his own life, the entire sequence was fantastic from his performance alone. Kristal was at times OTT but this guy, he was steady and when he was required to cry and be angry and frustrated, he nailed it. A wonderful performance and I hope to see more of him. From Tiger Mom Blues to this, now we are sort of spoiled for choice in terms of young-ish actors. I am sure there will be some suitable character for this actor to portray but I will forever remember him as the tragic decent Wing.

JESSICA KAN

When I look at her as Chloe, I thought maybe she can be Tze Yue since she is the prettier version. She does sound old doesn't she? But when she was dressed in school uniform with little make up, I was shocked to see how young she looked. Her problem is she has an old voice and that spoils the performance a bit. But she can act; she does Chloe in how we all should see her as; selfish stupid silly girl. A very good performance and again, another young actress for TVB to choose.

YVONNE HO

I like her nickname, Brother Nat or Nat Gor. That's how her colleagues see her. Competent performance with some comic moments.

THE OTHERS

Finally I know his name! Thanks to Kidd and many others. Ho Kai Nam, the actor who underneath the shirt lies absssss. He was convincing as the crazy scary Wat Dee. Very convincing performance.

I really enjoyed Parkman's performance as Wong Sir. His is more like comic relief and his banter with Kevin was very funny to watch. A pity he disappeared later on and suddenly Nat Gor is permanently in Pak's team.

The other bad guys are great too although I can't name them at all since I don't know their names. Some more hypocrite than evil but all great performances.

Due credit must be given to the 2 foreigners who played the thieves in the first few episodes. They were funny as well as very good actors.

However a few faltered, such as Louise Yuen, Tyson  who played mainlanders with very very bad accents that it was painful to watch.

And yes, that awful husband of Cal has the distinction of being the worst actor in this series. A complete jerk but the performance was sub par and cringe worthy. Perhaps he was so terrible therefore he was rather good as the jerk husband. Funny, he was the good dead husband in Tiger Mom Blues.

Performance wise, as in acting wise generally, frankly I find this series has pretty high standards.

VERDICT

You must have patience when watching this series, as in 16 episodes of patience if you are waiting for the 2 leads to meet and if you want to watch a great love story, don't watch this one. Watch this series for what TVB does best; family stuff. And watch this series for what TVB gets right finally; detective work. Also watch this series for what TVB never tries hard enough; develop characters in a character driven plot and spending 30 episodes on a singular plot device that is same story that didn't matter because in the end , it is the corruption that matters. And finally, watch this series for something TVB rarely does; lovingly create a series that made sense, that talks sense, ends sensibly and is in the end about sense. If only Cal had more sense than her desperate need to please her daughter, she wouldn't have been "lost".

You know, the Chinese title explains it all.

Ratings

⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

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TIGER MOM BLUES / 親親我好媽 [2017][TVB] : A REVIEW

I really enjoyed this series and one of the few TVB series in recent times that is interesting and heartfelt.

Reviewed by
Funn Lim

Released in
2017

No. of Episodes
20

More info
Wikipedia, Jaynestars

REVIEW

I can give you my very short opinion on this series. It started slow, picked up in the middle, ended satisfyingly but not perfectly. In short, this is like a performance driven non-story no-conflict no-drama series where every performance averages from good to star in the making except if your name is Sharon Chan. Seriously, one of the best series for 2017 thus far and its scale is in the vein of House of Spirits where it is a small intimate series.

And now for the long one.




THE PLOT
There is no plot. It is basically about mothers and it kinda covers the bases as to what sort of moms out there. Except for one, the others aren't exactly tiger moms.

Natalie is the tiger mom. She is a housewife who manages her 2 very well behaved teenage daughters, so frankly she hasn't much conflict in that sense. Life isn't too difficult in that sense. Her eldest is Venus, 18 years old super obedient daughter (for a very heart breaking reason) and then there's I believe 12 year old Echo (who looks 13 or 14) who is precocious and slightly rebellious. Again, even slightly rebellious does not translate to any major drama or conflict. I find her life quite idyllic, with a devoted husband who listens to her, a mother in law who supports her and the little conflict is with her super grand mother (the grandchildren calls her GRANDma as it is reasoned because she is a very GRAND person) who dislikes her husband but again, not much conflict because she loves her daughter but had high expectations on her choice of husband. Money isn't much but they make do. The only conflict is Natalie herself who is very strict, has very high expectations but isn't a bad person.

Rebecca is a different sort of tiger mom. She is also a housewife except her husband  is those rags to riches sort but still humble and she herself the daughter of a very rich father. She has one son, Oscar who is the same age and in the same class as Echo and basically, her problem is she is spoiled rotten as a daughter and as a wife and she spoils her son rotten as well. Her son turns out to be a bully who gets his way, always because of a mother who spoils him and a father who could not control him.

Claire is the youngest of the 3 I think and is a dedicated teacher as well as the head of discipline. She is a widow with a 9 year old son I believe, Isaac who is so well behaved, so smart, he is in the same class as Echo, thus creating a conflict where parents often complain of her biasness. She also has an 18 year old brother, Hayden who was a former good student and became what everyone sees as a badly behaved bad student ever since her husband died. Her brother is unhappy at home and at Claire's strict sense of impartiality and feels she is never on his side.

Things get a tad complicated when Natalie's husband, Yim Ha is accused of potentially having an improper relationship with a successful career woman, Venus falls for Hayden, Claire attempts in saving Oscar's schooling good credit resulted in her husband, Ko Yan's restaurants suffering a major setback and finally a little secret about Venus that led to the change in Natalie profoundly in her view as a mother.

But other than that, not much conflict. It is in fact a series with very little major problem because yes, the children are naughty but they aren't bad, parents are unreasonable and gossipy but they aren't very mean spirited or evil and husbands are mostly almost henpecked or chauvinistic but yet not truly chauvinistic because their philosophy as husbands is very old age; husbands work to provide food on the table and wives stay at home to educate children. Wives do not interfere with husbands' career and husbands do not interfere with wives' questionable choices when raising their children. I suspect feminists may not like this series, especially when Yim Ha forbids Natalie from working and Natalie, normally a very strongly opinionated woman seems ok with that until because of his suspected infidelity, it liberated her from that view and she rebelled by working whilst the normally non-confrontational Yim Ha rebelled and became more opinionated. Not a bad thing at all actually except I do feel Natalie was overreacting and Yim Ha was almost patient enough to withstand her OTT reaction to a non-issue.

The bigger issue is of course Venus and her past. From the get go you will already know Venus is not Natalie's daughter but is Yim Ha's child with another woman who ran away when Venus was very young. Natalie loves Venus like her own and in a way is very controlling of her every move, but it's ok because it is out of concern. Natalie's love can be suffocating but Venus doesn't mind it until she and Hayden is in a relationship and she met her real mother and was given an opportunity for a different lifestyle. I was waiting for Venus to implode on Natalie because Natalie will only change if Venus seriously explodes tantrum wise and this series does not disappoint. That scene where Venus tearfully argued with a very angry and emotional Natalie when she found out Venus was secretly meeting with her real mother, except Natalie thinks Venues doesn't know that fact was not only emotionally charged, but was very well acted. The revelation by Venus in the end was ended at just the right tone and manner and expressions and that was when Natalie changes, for the better.

My problem with that scene is the afterward and what happened. We never got to see Natalie suffering. We are told she is sick, she is without energy, she is emotional, she misses her daughter despite Venus not being her daughter, she regrets her over controlling ways, is very afraid Venus will never return... no such scenes. The most we get is Natalie looking sick on bed. It would have made this series so much more better if we get to see Natalie moping around sadly, scared, fearful. We do get to see Venus being slightly worried but after that revelation and explaining to her grandmother (father's mother) why she hid it so well, it was a heart breaking moment to reveal all the insecurities and yet, it feels almost nonchalant and detached. Her staying with her grandmother is more like vacation than running away or being fearful.

I also don't quite like the treatment of the real mother. Yes she abandoned Venus and Yim Ha but I find her reasons rather.... reasonable.  Making her the villain of this series without villains is not the right move. Could it be because the actress playing this character is a nobody? Why not get a special guest star, put some star power in it rather than cast a  third tier actress who did well but not well known enough. The blame or part of it should be on Yim Ha for being a chauvinistic husband. The feeling is the real mother was very young when she had Venus and felt trapped and so, left. She came back when she survived a cancer scare and wanted to reconnect with her daughter. However her methods are questionable as she either truly believes Venus is bullied by Natalie or is a sinister person, that whatever she does results in driving a wedge and creating mistrust between Venus and Natalie, rather unsuccessfully. This series probably takes the sinister path and so Venus basically had to choose between two mothers. To be honest, there's no choosing because the series had already decided the answer since Episode 1. I wanted TVB to surprise me. Instead, I get the message that "the bond with the birth mother is not as strong as the bond with the woman who raised you" thing but I don't see why can't Venus have best of both worlds. The real mother gives a sense of a woman who has seen much, traveled much, rather than Natalie's rather narrow view of the world out there and so why can't Venus have both, goes overseas to study and live with her real mother and come back home to Natalie? Why can't she have two mothers? Why must she choose between the two and it was to her the easiest choice and why must she walk away from her real mother, in a way blaming her real mother for walking out and thus choosing her father effectively? I mean why can't for once things end amicably with best of all worlds? And why again in the world of TVB career women got the blame?

Other than these slight hiccups, the other stories are very entertaining even if atypical of TVB.

There's the very entertaining antics of Rebecca and her son Oscar who both pack some major surprises at the end of the series by becoming truly nice people. I mean they're not bad people, just bad influence, especially in the case of Oscar whose bad behaviour is thanks to an overindulgent Princess Rebecca who always gets her way.

I also like the progression of Hayden who from rebel turns out to be one of the wisest sounding young man in this series. His relationship with Venus is believable as well although, again, no conflict.

Frankly, I do find the character Sing Kat Sze to be rather interesting as well, as a man who came to find Claire for good ulterior motive. However their love story is unconvincing, as much as his job as a janitor. I have never seen him fix anything outside of his own living quarters and Claire's room. In fact he seems to be so free; baking, chatting, dispensing with good advice. I was wondering what is his real job and when it is revealed he is a restaurant owner in Paris (rich, cultured, etc) which explains why he bakes so well, it is kinda surprising for me because that's rather convenient.

THE ENDING
It ended ok but doesn't tie up the lose ends like what happened to Venus' mom? She just goes away? What about Hugo's mom? Still as insane and abusive? Miss Man goes to Paris or not? Does she even love Sing Kai Sze? Or she just loves his eyes? Where's Frances? It feels like a sudden death sort of ending. I thought it deserves one more episode to end properly, tie up all the loose ends instead of rushing at the last episode and everything is just a-ok and perfect. The so called dilemma of Venus not being able to see her boyfriend for the next few years is non-dilemma. It is solved with a promise that all will be fine. So that ended in about 10 minutes of dilemma. The whole scene of Yim Ha trying to gain entry into university to study engineering I think is to me.. I don't know, it that how it's done in HK? Since he is a mature student with experience, he should be gaining entry via part time and open university sort of courses where it is night and weekend classes. Does he have to go begging for a place to study since his route is different from a young student? However I do like the ending scene where Rebecca and Oscar are up to their old tricks, being their competitive selves and racing with Yim Ha and family. Seriously, this series will be so less entertaining without Rebecca and Oscar.

THE PERFORMANCES
I am pretty impressed with most of the performances but it is the performances of the younger generation or younger younger generation.. you know what, there are like 4 generations here; grandparents, parents/sisters, older children and young children. I should say 4 levels of category here.

OLDER GENERATION
So few old people here but all of them did as veterans are expected to do; be the anchor. I won't talk about all of them but I particularly enjoy Michelle Yim's performance as the ultra arrogant GRANDma. However as the series goes on, you will likely to like her because in the end she is not a mean person, just an honest one. She doesn't mince her words and yes, she loves Echo more and she admits that much but in the end she did something for her daughter and that is to drag Venus away from the "evil" real mother. I think Michelle Yim is perfectly cast as the elegant former ballerina. She does have an air of sophistication to her and a certain innocence like she doesn't know she is creating conflict or is arrogant.

By the way I am watching Saimdang starring the ever beautiful Lee Young Ae and in that series in the modern times timeline, there is also a GRANDma but compared to Michelle's version, Saimdang's GRANDma is someone I wish I could slap eventhough both walk with their noses in the air and a perpetual scowl at the sight of poor people or poor neighbourhood.

MID GENERATION
My only gripe is when there should be more shown, this series held back and that is Natalie's suffering. But performance wise, wow...

Elena Kong seems ill suited for the role of a housewife at first because I always see her as an arrogant egoistical pretentious career woman, like she is perpetually bored with what you have to say and isn't too bothered to even listen. But her acting is not to be criticized. I especially love the scenes where she argues. She will go all out and argue, and not just argue loudly but emotionally, like really really argue. Never argue with Elena. She wins with her bulging eyes and louder, louder and louder voice and her very scary angry look. At her more quieter gentler moments, that's when I feel I find her inconsistent or rather her Natalie is inconsistent. Controlling at home, nice outside. Which makes me think she is not a bad person at all, but she does have control issues. I suppose in that sense Elena is perfectly cast.

Ben Wong excels as the ordinary man, and does look really frustrated when he is in those argument scenes with Elena. These two did not hold back and really looked like an arguing couple. If this was done years ago, I will want Felix Wong in this role, as someone who is likable. His Yim Ha is a soft sort of guy who found his voice to argue back but yet is chauvinistic in his view of the role of a wife? I am confused on this point. I suppose a man can be chauvinistic and yet empowering in a positive way at the same time.

Savio Tsang is a surprise addition to this series in the sense that this man has been languishing in third-dary roles of late and suddenly here he is in a secondary role with a character who is very prominent in this series. Whilst I wonder why his spoilt rich brat of a wife married him who was probably not too poor but wasn't too rich either, he and Koni Lui do make an interesting couple because they look so out of place together but just seems right towards the end. At first I did not like Ko Yan who I feel just couldn't control his wife or his son but towards the end when his business was suffering a major setback and he quietly narrated his father's story and his own vision and then silently alone (or he thought he was alone), he was crying his heart out, that was a very beautiful scene. For almost entire series this man was stoically silent, frustrating at times, and sometimes I wouldn't even notice him. His Ko Yan is serious but proves to be a good man with good intentions and ethics who somehow married a spoiled wife and a spoiled son. You will wonder what went wrong for him. I also like how this series highlighted his goodness when he proposed a very interesting scheme to guide his wife to the path of "goodness" so to speak and with that I just can't help but feel Rebecca is such a lucky woman to have such a wonderful husband. But make no mistake, he was lucky too to have Rebecca as a wife too.

Koni Lui is someone who is now cast in 2 quite similar roles; both loud and both unreasonable but both with redeeming factors and both wives to husbands with no voice and who spoil her. Her role is similar to House of Spirits and frankly I very much enjoyed her performance in here too. Fine, she speaks loudly but in her case, it is apt. I like how she will preface her son's name or when talking about her son to others with "My precious son, Oscar" or just "My precious son". She makes it sound so effortlessly right that it was rather funny. She is no great dramatic actress nor is she particularly funny but even when her Rebecca is frustratingly childish and incredibly spoiled, you can't say she is not one dedicated mother except she teaches her son all the wrong values. She is not a bad or mean person, but she is just highly competitive and always gets her way. I feel Koni's performance embodies all that. However, towards the end, her change is rather incredible. It isn't too in your face but it was more subtle. Koni never changed her acting style and yet there is a nice difference with her Rebecca in the way she dresses, the way she talks. I don't like that I never got to see a more slow change because her change was too sudden but it is never a doubt her Rebecca did change for her son.

Sharon Chan is a disappointment. Her Miss Man is so dry, so boring, for someone with such a sad backstory, I find her character the least interesting one. Her only saving grace is her interaction with Wai Ka Hung as Sing Kat Sze or the young besotted student but even then she is frustratingly restraint for all the wrong reasons. I only like her individual scene where she asked her biased principal if she is expected to resign and she won't. Her Miss Man is supposed to be someone stoic and with character, with principle but she comes across as someone preachy, almost like a young Liza Wang where everything from her mouth is preachy stuff. I get it she's a teacher, she's got to be strict, she's got to be a moral example, blah blah blah. I find her performance just about tolerable. As a teacher, as a sister, as a mother, as a friend, as a widow who misses her husband terribly (by the way her dead husband played the god awful SOB in Destination Nowhere, two polar opposites!) and she is not remotely convincing in any of the role except as Sharon Chan playing these roles.

Wai Ka Hung is Willie Wai, so says Wikipedia. Anyway, he plays his Sing Kat Sze in a straightforward way. A man without temper, he is also a very mild mannered nice guy. So he isn't convincing as either a chef, a restaurant owner in France or a janitor but I like his no nonsense performance as someone who has some kind encouraging words for everyone.He's like a beacon of positivity as opposed to Sharon Chan's pessimism.

I have not much comment for Becky Lee who seems perpetually typecast as either the suffering third party or any career woman character with her signature very glossy lipstick. I am however rather pissed that TVB continually shows a career woman as a childless, unhappy mistress who drinks and drive dangerously and almost causes the breakdown of a decent man's marriage whether intentionally or unintentionally. In this series, it is unintentionally and sadly she suddenly disappears from screen thereafter. And it is also why I hate TVB for making a guy choose between wife or female friend instead of having both.

YOUNG GENERATION
Plenty of talent in this group and I am very very happy to see young faces who can act so TVB has hope! Frankly I don't know any of them. May have seen them before.

Kaman Kong.. Kong Ka Man issit? Because that's a weird name for a pretty-ish actress. She isn't some great beauty, maybe because throughout the series she wears very little make up which highlights her youth. So she's 22 in real life, but she does look like a convincing 18 year old. She plays Venus in a very restraint non confrontational non emotional way and it suits Venus perfectly. Some might mistake that as no acting but it takes a good actress to be that restraint and yet emotional at the same time. She's raw but with much potential. Her biggest moment was when she had that huge argument with Elena and Elena as I have said, could really really argue. Kaman Kong held her own and delivered the punchline, that huge revelation with such aplomb that I too was taken aback. I like her performance. I like her ease of banter with her cast mates and how she fares very well against seniors and senior's seniors. Not this series' best young actress but quite close.


Matthew Ho plays Hayden. Nice name. I kept telling my viewing partner that this guy could have been perfect if his voice is deeper. He should really train his voice, to speak in lower tone because right now, his voice is the only problem. He does have a naturally gentle effeminate face, so his Hayden being a rebel is not convincing at all. I don't even find his Hayden as a loner convincing also. BUT I find his Hayden as a romantic guy or a nice guy rather nice to watch. I think Hayden is a great character with the cool loner surface, but passionate and kind and caring deep inside. Venus chooses well for her first boyfriend. I also like his scenes with his seniors where he held his own and even delivered some convincing lines about his choice for his future. This Hayden is someone who knows what he wants and knows how to get them. I especially like the scene where Yim Ha was discussing with him about his future and Hayden brilliantly turns the table around and in his own way, praises and criticises Yim Ha. That was a well written scene and well acted as well. Still raw but the talent's there.

What I like about Matthew and Kaman is they are both natural in respective role, so however raw, you can see the potential. And TVB needs that right now for this age group.
 

Arnold Kwok.. who?! No idea but man this guy is very good. His Hugo Lin Kwok Kai is someone you wanna kick and then hug and then give an encouraging pat on his back. Whilst I feel Kaman and Matthew were raw, I feel Arnold was a step up in a supporting role that required him to do 3 different characters in one series. His Hugo was at first a mean arrogant bully which he excelled. Then he was a lovable cute goofy guy besotted with his pretty teacher which he also excelled. And finally the abused son of an abusive mother which he also excelled. His only problem is towards the end he looks a tad too grown up for a teenager  but I always keep forgetting, this series depict form 6 students, they are 18, technically end of teenagehood and almost young adult. I feel he makes Miss Man aka Sharon Chan interesting and I would not go NO WAY! if his Hugo comes back sayyyyy 8 years later and woo Miss Man. Miss Man isn't too old in this series. Arnold is handsome, tall-ish, robust. He just needs a tan. That's all and you have your future star for TVB. Frankly I know nothing about him so I googled and read he was in House of Spirits? As who? And he was a fashion model? Figures. So I suppose he has absssss..... perfect!

Hebe Chan plays Venus' best friend, Meg who hilariously from a girl who shops a lot whose career is to marry a rich man became a girl who wants to be a boxer. I find that hilarious but uplifting. Her speech about finding her passion and her purpose must resonate with a lot of young people and there are always a Meg or a Venus or a Hayden or a Hugo somewhere. They all teach a lesson for all young people; find your passion, pursue your dream but remember, be patient in getting your family's blessing and if they love you, and they do, they will accept your choice eventually.


Come to think of it, this series pretty much cover the types of teenagers today, of course like I said, if you ignore the delinquents and the trouble makers and those who are from very troubled background. Wait! Hayden's crush in this series got pregnant whilst at school and her boyfriend was charged and imprisoned for statutory rape! So that covers another type.

YOUNGER GENERATION
The talent pool is in this category and the future of TVB is in here as well.

The weakest of the lot is Ivan Chan who plays Isaac, the youngest of the lot and brilliant nice good perfect son of Miss Perfect Miss Chan. I have nothing against Isaac but this series is kinda telling us if you are a good person, you are a good mom, your son is also gonna be very very very good. I do think Ivan was ok as the decent kid. He's not cute though but as an actor, he was adequate.

Coleman Tam (wow! Coleman!) as Oscar is a standout. I really love this kid. I love how he was just so spoiled and mean bully that I just wanna slap him and scream at him to shut up. I love how he was so unrestrained in his performance. I mean I am sure his friends must tease him for those scenes where his Oscar throws himself onto the floor or bed or just went spastic and crying and throwing stuff and just being very very rude. He has most scenes with Koni and some guys may also think he's the luckiest because Koni's Rebecca just doesn't call him "my precious son" or in Chinese you can say it is closer to "my most treasured beloved precious son" who in her eyes is utter perfection, every time they are in a scene, there's a hug. A lot of skinship between these two. I also love his transformation to a good kid which was sudden, not too convincing (the process, not the acting) but it was a great change of character. He's very natural and I just love his performance.

Sophia Hung who plays Ben and Elena's youngest daughter, Echo is a revelation. To me she is the best actress in here who gave the most natural and best performance of a person of her age group. She was so precocious,  behaving in such a natural way and the way she delivered her lines was so easy, so at ease and without any pretentiousness. She's a natural. I love her every scene, even when again she was arguing with super quarrel woman, Elena and she held her own. That was the only time Elena's character did not and could not answer back. So Echo's the boss! Back to that argument scene, her Echo was rude and selfish but her performance, the tears, the anger, the frustration, the rudeness, so very real. When she's teasing people, she really looks like a precocious kid. Both she and Coleman stole the show for me. Between these two, I feel Sophia is by far the best actress in the young and younger generation group. I could quite imagine her in a wuxia series playing a playful intelligent precocious princess or something. This girl has acting chops and yes, TVB's great new hope. She even sounds young.

Looking at these two pools, I hope TVB will consider a new category for 2017's award show, call it Breakout Star or Tomorrow's Star or Best Young Actor award. I will favour Best Young Actor and it should be for actors below 25 years of age (because if below 18, effectively the list will be short) and I will want to see Coleman, Sophia, and the gang in here all nominated and I will want to see Sophia win unless there's another acting prodigy hidden somewhere. To think decades ago TVB did not have a decent child actor or young actor or teenage actor, now in one series, there so many to choose from. Of course there's still Most Improved and that should be for actors who are most improved but it is time to create a Best Young Actor award to cater and to encourage young actors. Then create a Breakout Star award to recognise a breakout role, if there isn't one. I don't mean Most Popular or Best Actress, but Breakout Star can be anyone, any character, any role, any actor, need not just be leads or secondary or big production. Pump some new blood, build the bases for new idols instead of those nearing 40s still playing late 20s or worse still, 30s playing 50s. Not sure which is worse.

VERDICT
This is no huge drama. There isn't much conflict. It falters towards the end because there are just too many characters to focus on, some unconvincing but each serves his or her purpose. The acting for most is the highlight of this series, especially the younger generation where there are a few that if the progression is done right, will probably be the anchor of TVB if TVB is willing to invest in them. I really enjoyed this series and one of the few TVB series in recent times that is interesting and heartfelt. It's a small series, the actors are no big names but it has a huge heart. Whilst I may not like some aspects and some stories, overall my affection for it is the same as I have for House of Spirits. I appreciate this series and I will recommend this to anyone who likes good acting, decent story, great ensemble cast with personality and heart.

Seriously, it's good. Go watch it.

Ratings

⭐⭐⭐⭐

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A FIST WITHIN FOUR WALLS / 城寨英雄 [2016][TVB] : A REVIEW

"I was ready to criticise and not see any good in it. However on reflection I see the good as well"

Reviewed by
Funn Lim

Released in 
2016

No. of Episodes
28

More info
Wikipedia, Jaynestars

REVIEW

The title is so apt. As I was watching this series (purely for Ruco Chan), my hand formed into a fist and I found myself punching all 4 walls, purely out of frustration. This series won Best Series in TVB Awards and I feel it was the popular choice but it was the wrong choice. The best series of the year was House of Spirits and it wasn't for its performances or story. It was for consistency in the story and performances.

What A Fist Within Four Walls lack is consistency in absolutely everything. Character, pacing, storytelling, focus, ending. It focused on A and ended on B when A was the more interesting story.

Basically it is all about Ruco Chan; he played father and then he played son. His two stories intertwined with many other as with every TVB series since time immemorial. TVB will never do a linear story because it would be too boring and they can't ever really completely focus on one storyline. That's fine until it reaches a crossroad of storytelling; continue with main story or go the other way and just muck up the main story. As with all TVB series, this series certainly went the other way. For example;

1. I was very interested in episode 1, the back story about the protectors of the walled city of Kowloon; Duen and Chiu. The series spent so little time on them and just zoom straight to meet, friend, kill, die, children grow up, in that order. I wanted to know more about Chiu Man San, and Duen Tung Tin. Surely the producer can take 6 episodes or so to just tell a proper backstory? Because it had TWO of the most heart wrenching death scenes ever; the mysterious unfortunate death of the noble upright Duen and then the downright murder of Chiu and his wife, the guest starring and almost zero dialogue Natalie Tong in a wasted guest appearance. It was a very shocking mob rule sort of scene that sets the pace of the story and then... the story simply failed to capitalise on that.

2. Whilst Kuen Lo had a very sad back story, I can never understand why the writer chose to make him grow into a bumbling country bumpkin, ever optimistic whilst Duen Ying Fung, the son of the noble Duen was far more cynical. Maybe because he was a city kid? Anyway I was expecting Kuen Lo to be the angry sort. He did witnessed the mob murder of his parents. Not only did he failed to investigate their tragic double murder, later we will find out he didn't even bother to bury them. He actually believed his father murdered Master Duen. The greatest joke is it was the younger Duen who suspected foul play. It was this change of direction that just frustrates me. Yes Ruco was cute to watch as some overoptimistic highly idealised person but Kuen Lo must have been blind, deaf and incapable of rationale thinking to grow up that way. He should be the one seeking answers, getting revenge, instead for the rest of the series he hardly did anything that one can say he did justice for his father and mother and his family honour. He was far too busy being noble, being forgiving, being in love, being blind and then being happy. The major dramatic thrust of responsibility of being the one doing all the questioning and all was left to Duen Ying Fung which makes me feel Duen Ying Fung was a far better character. And these two started as equal, and then Duen Ying Fung seems to take precedence, towards the end Duen Ying Fung was kicked to the back because the producers suddenly remember who is supposed to be the leading actor.

3. I was far more interested in the story of Fa Man than Tiu Lan and yet we are not shown Fa Man's back story, instead we have Tiu Lan's story about assassins, etc. Fa Man in passing narrated her life where she had to do things she didn't want to do but had to because she needed to survive and because she wanted to investigate the murder of her parents. By the way this little girl buried her parents. This little girl who was lost grew up knowing her father was maligned and unfairly accused of Master Duen's death. This little girl grew up seeking revenge and justice, and rightly so. And somehow she knew Kuen Lo was her big brother, so she was highly skilled in every area. I admire her from day 1. This is one strong female character and to me the strongest of all characters in this series, including the men. She was far ahead of her bumbling country bumpkin brother in all areas and she suffered more than he did and never wavered in her conviction. When she found love, it was sweet as opposed to her brother's love which was to me a hindrance to the growth of the character. Like I said, we have Tiu Lan's childhood story but nothing on Fa Man. How did Fa Man survived? Shouldn't this story concentrate on her at one side and then on Kuen Lo on another? Maybe spend a few episodes actually showing us how they grew up? Not everything has to be flashbacks you know.

4. And so we have Tiu Lan taking the spotlight from Fa Man when Fa Man was the main character to me. For everything about Tiu Lan, I feel those can be shifted to Fa Man, meaning Fa Man can be the one hungry and willing to kill for food, trained to be assassin, etc. That will explain why she can fight so well. And it will tie in with why she left the organisation and came to Kowloon. Basically Tiu Lan's character was just a surplus who did nothing to contribute to the story and frankly Kuen Lo doesn't need a love story to show he is capable of love and gentleness. That can be exhibited through his love for his sister, his only living family.

5. Even if we have Tiu Lan, which is ok with me, my biggest problem is Tiu Lan is a waste of space. For a moment she had so much potential. This was like Kung Fu Hustle, a place where great kung fu warriors live and hide their identities. When Tiu Lan was so distraught over the death of an innocent girl that she cared deeply about, that one scene where she single-handedly killed all those men was probably the greatest highlight of this series, apart from Fa Man killing those responsible for the death of her father. It was so promising, like what will Tiu Lan do next? I was expecting her to do more, to be unleashed more. Well, she fainted, woke up, had amnesia or pretended to and for the rest of the series quite simply disappeared into the background and occasionally resurface because hey, that's Nancy Wu, she's the leading lady, nobody can tell her her Tiu Lan was after that forgettable and rendered useless to the plot. It was so frustrating to watch. I was waiting and waiting for her to do something every time there's injustice but nope, nothing.

6. I was never convinced by the love story of Tiu Lan and Kuen Lo. Tiu Lan was too cartoonish. For someone who wanted to hide from the world, she behaved in such a way that the world will notice her. His blindness and her way of taking care of him led to one of the silliest plot error ever; apparently no one could find Kuen Lo since he was blind and wasting away somewhere deep in remorse, guilt, regret. People asked around, in fact people were dispatched to look for him but no one ever asked Tiu Lan because she could find him very easily. she knew exactly where he was.

7. Fa Man's death was tragic but in the end could have packed more punch. I just feel at that point the writer just wanted to move on from Fa Man who by then was my most favourite character so I perfectly understood that meant her death because it was either her or Tiu Lan and again you don't kill Nancy Wu because she is the leading lady. Would have been much better if Tiu Lan died because Fa Man had more things to be done.

8. One of the most tragic deaths, apart from the elder Duen and Chiu was Lung Shing Fu who spent half the series misunderstood and the other half just ended up doing the right thing. His death was brutal and was one of the best scenes in this series for the intensity and the drama. Again he was dispatched away and then for the rest of the series, pushed aside as the stories unfold. I feel he needn't die so soon or die at all.

9. My memory may have failed me but I kinda remember the folks in the Walled City didn't deserve protection from day 1. I didn't see them standing up for themselves, more so for others. In fact most of the time for such a packed city, I didn't see much people when there was trouble. There was no unity and sometimes you wonder why bother to fight for these people?

10. I didn't get why the ultimate bad guy wanted to control walled city unless he wanted a factory to produce his opium or drugs. Because I distinctly remember the pudding man had control outside the walled city so why is it so important that he must control the walled city? There must have been a reason for his disguise, for his secret identity but somewhere along the way the series abandoned that reason and just went all out of kung fu fighting and less about story development. When pudding man said he slept with the wife of another prominent villain and produced a very sweet nice daughter, I wonder was it real? There was no flashback. TVB, this is one scene you need flashback and amp up the sex but nope, nothing. So I wonder, was he telling the truth or was that scene cut? Poor Audrey; between a bad guy father and an evil father, I am not sure if she had the best of either world.

11. Poor Audrey that she never married. I mean she deserves a happy ending and it isn't learning muay tai and taking care of her would be mother in law. She never married Lung Shing Fu anyway. Her happy ending is going away, doing something, marrying someone else, moving on. Nobody ever moves on in TVB world, she's far too young to be a would be widow. I was hoping she ended up with Duen Ying Fung but I guess Duen Ying Fung is the bona fide widower. Wait! He wasn't married either. Was he?

12. The ending for Tiu Lan and Kuen Lo quite frankly left a bad taste in my mouth. Yes, I said people should move on but at some point with so many deaths, it was highly inappropriate to have them ended up having sex in a public place as a happy ending. A wedding perhaps, traveling the world perhaps, a nice ending kissing scene by the sunset perhaps. But her removing his clothes and pulling him into some secluded area and giggling till the end? By this time, after being through so many things, so many deaths, so much pain and regret and sorrow, I feel the ending shouldn't be this childish and playful. This is no time for playful since they began playful, the ending should have been a more mature end because people do grow up and perspective change but love stays and with that, a more quiet mature ending was more apt. It just feel like all the deaths didn't matter; these two matters. By that time I didn't quite care for these two at all because I have had it with Kuen Lo spending most of the series moping around doing nothing much and Tiu Lan spending almost entire series doing absolutely nothing. And the fact that she wore a tight catsuit to fight is not a plus point.

13. The ultimate villain is a problem. I don't know what's with TVB these days. Any drama about mystery, murder, suspense, and they have this idea of villains and ultimate villain or rather ultimate boss, like some video game. In this series, the ultimate boss is Pudding Man. And it felt incomplete. Surely Pudding Man was working for someone? There must be an ultimate boss to the ultimate boss? If Pudding Man is the ultimate boss, and indeed he was, it was such a let down.

But there are goods in this series but they are almost always the secondary characters.

This series had 3 strong villains. Pudding Man was not one of them because I never quite got the guy. If only he had more time to be developed as a proper villain, he could have been a very cruel calculating cold one. The ultimate CCC combination. The 3 villains were the 3 fractions  at the start of this series;

1. Fuk Sau Kam was an interesting character. He was the drug lord of the walled city and what I love about him was his death scene; because that was when Fa Man was unleashed and the way she killed him was the highlight for me.

2. Or Man Cheung was also an interesting character in the sense he was the hypocrite and he controlled the gambling dens. However he wasn't the ultimate villain because his villainess was checked by his love for his daughter, Audrey.

3. Fung Ha Moon was one half of the duo villains who controlled the prostitution empire. He spent his time mostly sneering. It was his other half, his older brother Fung Chun Mei who to me was the most memorable villain in this series. Cold, calculating, cruel, he had the CCC but he had one I suppose redeeming factor that Pudding Man didn't have; Fung Chun Mei loved his brother very much, blindly in fact. I felt he dominated every scene he was in by not really saying much or even talking loudly; he was rather soft spoken and to me he was the scariest of the lot.

Then there was a character I grew to like who was Lung Shing Fu who started shady and mostly half naked with oil slathered on his body. Then when he moved past that stage, he was in the end a rather noble character forced by his own sense of misdirected loyalty and saved by his love for his mother who disapproved of everything he did and his love for the sweet Audrey. That was why his death scene was significant; this was a major character heavily involved in the story and to lose him so soon for me is what a waste of a good story.

And of course there was Audrey whom I really like. There are characters that are so sweet you just want to slap them. But Audrey is a sweet character that you can't help but like. She has her own viewpoint and her own moral compass. Considering that she had the DNA of the Pudding Man (which isn't good news) and raised by another hypocritical bad guy (which should really have made her rotten), she turned out to be a rather upstanding character that you can cheer for.

Finally there was Fa Man, possibly my most favourite female character todate in a TVB series. She was strong as she was gentle, she was forceful as she was soft spoken, she sacrificed and she knew why she had to sacrifice. Whilst her brother was very forgiving of those who murdered their parents, she was far less forgiving and I felt her revenge scenes were the highlight. Her death was tragic but from my memory, not much significance given to her AFTER death scenes which frustrates me. I felt Fa Man could have merged with Tiu Lan as one character so that I don't ever have to see the silly Tiu Lan again but it seems a man is only whole if he ever got a girlfriend and the world will stop spinning if Kuen Lo doesn't get his love story. The joke is the quiet moments between Kuen Lo and Fa Man were the love story for me; the sibling love story as they reconnect and his horrified look as she told him her very very brief back story which deserved a flashback! TVB, flashback here!!!

There are other characters and it suddenly hit me But Tak Liu's wife was Emma in Dead Wrong. No complaints about those characters since they represent the ordinary folks of the walled city.

I should also mention the walled city itself. It was quite stunning backdrop even at times I do know it is a studio because it was too clean and too much echo. I like Thai Po's shop, in Malaysia we used to have such shops which we called "Kedai Runcit" where you see biscuits in glass jars, etc. Those are dying breed here except in small towns. I like the costumes or for men, the lack of costumes since whenever they fight, their upper torso is devoid of clothing and is mysteriously suddenly oily. Not complaining although the only one who should ever take off his top is Lung Shing Fu. The rest can keep their clothes on. And yet the one who was scariest was the guy who was always in the same costume and that was Fung Chun Mei. You don't see him losing his top at all. Not even his lipstick and eyeshadow.

And finally, the stunt work and kung fu deserves a mention, even if some of the actors do more dancing or aerobic exercises than kung fu. Some you know are trained, so it looked more effortless and packed with power. Some you know are good dancers, therefore they are more fluid, graceful and able to showcase a different aspect of the real kung fu used here when they used a bit more power. Some you know are hopeless and they seemed to be doing tai chi more than forceful kung fu and you can imagine them counting one.. two... three.. when throwing the not so powerful punches. It beggars belief why that particular person is even hired for this series playing not one but TWO kung fu experts when he didn't even played a convincing dentist. You will be surprised who was convincing; the secondary actors were the ones who surprised me most with their fluid movements and they were pretty convincing. You gets snippets of their choreography at the end of each episodes, how meticulous they were, how difficult it all was and how effortless they made it all looked.

Performances Evaluated

No doubt this series is a group effort and should be commended for their effort. Whilst the story is to me a total waste of resources, talent and opportunity and absolutely undeserving of any award, it is time TVB should create an award known as Best Cast or something like that to honour not the best series but the best group. I feel this series and House of Spirits should win that award.

Ruco Chan

I watched this series for him and I ended up despising his Kuen Lo from episode 2. I wished he was Duen Ying Fung because I think I long to see Ruco in a role that doesn't involve him being impetuous, reckless, shouting his lines. Between he and Nancy Wu, I needed ear plugs because they were loud. And I would think Ruco will look more convincing as a dentist, a master in kung fu and look mighty dashing in a suit. Unfortunately for Ruco, he got stuck with Kuen Lo. Or maybe fortunately because he undeservedly won the Best Actor award at the TVB awards. For body of work, I will give it to Ruco but for this series, no I won't. Kuen Lo was one of his weakest performances because his character was not well written and he didn't have much to do apart from spending most of the series moping around. Now I am really hoping TVB will remake Hanzawa Naoki. I always said I thought Roger Kwok would be my Hanzawa but since Roger Kwok had most of the more interesting characters, it is time Ruco is given a role like Hanzawa. In fact if there is a Nirvana In Fire, I want Ruco as the Prince where he can be honourable and impetuous, his best traits in all his characters. For Kuen Lo, I am not saying he was terrible but Kuen Lo hardly stretched his acting prowess. Also Kuen Lo made no sense; I just hated the whole country bumpkin over enthusiastic overly kindly noble sort of guy who was his father's greatest critic because he never believed his father. And no one ever remembers the poor mother. By the way Ruco was far better as the father and his kung fu was very convincing.

Benjamin Yuen 
He played the senior Duen weakly (I wasn't even convinced he was the respected master) and the junior Duen in a way that when he wasn't doing the fighting, he was tolerable. Duen Ying Fung, if you must know, is my most favourite male character in this series because he is a human being unlike Kuen Lo who is god knows what he is. Duen Ying Fung actually do human stuff and have human emotions and could think better. Problem is Benjamin Yuen is such a snore. That guy just slowed down everything and his kung fu scenes were the weakest because he was so skinny, his kung fu had no force and he was rather slow. But his best scene was when he discovered his entire family murdered. Even then the grief was too brief, too little but since Duen Ying Fung is not a very emotional guy, you can interpret his detachment in the sense he is that sort of a person.

Philip Ng 
A strange guy. He actually looks handsomer as the series went on and his character suits his performance or the other way around. Yes he was wooden, but Lung Shing Fu is wooden. Yes he was not very emotional or expressive but Lung Shing Fu is that sort of guy. The role is kinda written with him in mind. Another actor who could have played this role and not change one expression is Kenny Wong but frankly, Philip Ng is a far more expressive actor than Kenny Wong and that is saying something. Philip Ng was also very convincing in his fight scenes, considering his background. Really packed a punch.

Nancy Wu
She is the leading lady here. I find her performance here and her every other performances lacking variety. However the problem for her here is the lack of depth for her character. I could only imagine if Tiu Lan didn't go back to hiding but was unleashed or Tiu Lan is merged with Fa Man, what can Nancy Wu do? Maybe much more. Her scene where she killed all those men was the highlight. It was beautifully filmed, she was quite convincing except for the jumping up scene and for someone so skinny she packed a punch. Whilst fans lauded her chemistry with Ruco, I don't see any. Of course they are now basking in their popularity and no doubt helped by their so called chemistry and rumours of a relationship (could be true if Ruco ever change his taste in women and he might),  but I feel she had far more chemistry with the older Bobby Au Yeung in House of Spirits than in this series. And I liked her much much more in the other series. In here, she is wasted and a waste of space. I will not mince my words about Tiu Lan; I am bitter that Tiu Lan took away much screen time from Fa Man who deserved her back story. Tiu Lan to me could be removed and A Fist Within Four Walls will still be the story it is.

Grace Wong
She gave perhaps her career defining performance in this series. Before, her acting is credible, except people hated her for her religious views. But the girl can act and I like that she whispers rather than shouts. She is Mandy Wong but Mandy Wong's problem is she speaks like she is teaching a language class whilst Grace speaks as if that's how she speaks. For someone so skinny, her kung fu was the most convincing amongst the women, Yuen Qiu included. Maybe it was her dancing background, but her movements were fluid, almost dancer like, very graceful and with such force you will believe she can throttle you to the floor and sweet talk you at the same time. I love her scenes with Ruco, the way they were rather sweet to one another and I love how she played Fa Man as someone that went through so much hell and yet could be the voice of reason, even if she was seeking revenge. I feel Grace Wong should have been the leading lady in this series because her Fa Man is so significant to this story, without her, there is no A Fist Within Four Walls. Fans of Grace Wong should seriously watch this for her.

Moon Lau 
She was another actress whom I feel should have won Most Improved Actress in TVB awards. I couldn't believe this was the same actress I saw in other series where she wasn't wooden, but I never paid much attention to. Her Audrey could have been very annoying; I quite imagine if this series was made a decade ago or earlier, this role would probably be played by a young Charmaine Sheh or Shirley Yeung, neither I believe could have made Audrey not annoying. Because Audrey is supposed to be so sweet that you find her annoying. That's TVB's dictum in every series; mary sues I believe. But Moon manages to make her spunky, likable, lovable and god forbid, cute! Very very enjoyable performance but drama wise, she could work on her crying scenes where she squints a lot; a bad habit to me.

The rest

Yuen Qiu is Yuen Qiu. Her best scenes were with Philip Ng. No comments. So is KK Cheung.

Jonathan Cheung appeared for reasons I can't understand why. Like Tiu Lan, his character was a surplus. Perhaps to create some tension, like a choice for Tiu Lan to make when... come on, this ain't her story. It was so strange to see him appear and even stranger, his performance was so wooden. I wasn't sure whether he was good guy or bad guy and frankly, you don't need to care. He was a surplus.

Now I must comment on the 3 villains plus the pudding man.

What I love about this series is it gives probably the main characters in terms of villains to secondary actors who some I  frankly do not know their names but I have seen them. You would expect a more famous face but that's where this series excels; it offers a chance to these actors to show their capabilities in a different way. Much like how it was in Three Kingdoms RPG, where that was a necessity since there weren't enough famous faces to fill so many roles. In fact it was Three Kingdoms RPG which I refer to every time I need to know the names of some obscure secondary actor because I sort of listed all the names of almost everyone in that series and deservedly so. Three Kingdoms RPG became my encyclopedia of secondary actors' name, one of whom is in here playing a very prominent role.

I think Oscar Li played the pervert very well. Not much comment. Vincent Lam was also very convincing in his fighting scenes and looking like he is always high on drugs. I am happy that Au Sui Wai is getting some love from TVB. He was convincing as the creepy villain Pudding Man except his character was not given much depth and development which is a great pity. All these 3 fought very very well, including KK who were all convincing and worthy adversaries to our heroes.

However the one deserving a huge praise is Carlo Ng.  I would never guess him as a kung fu fighting super scary supremely calm villain but he was very very convincing in both. I will say of all the villains his Fung Chun Mei was most fleshed out although we hardly know his background,  just enough to go on. A pity he hardly had a costume change but I think he gave an amazing performance and a special recognition award given to him at the recent TVB awards was most deserving although he deserved the Best Supporting Actor because that was what he was. I do think Raymond Cho could also nail this character if he was given a chance. But what a surprise to see Carlo Ng nailing this.

Verdict

Oh how I hated the story. The more accolades, the more I hated it. But as I wrote this review, something I haven't done in  a long while, I was ready to criticise and not see any good in it. however on reflection I see the good as well; how this series was the shining moment for secondary actors who deserved this breakout chance. For the performances of Grace Wong and Carlo Ng alone, this for me is highly recommended. But if you feel no love for this sort of genre, or you can't stand another bad role for Ruco and another series with Nancy, perhaps give this a miss. There are better series with Ruco Chan in it. As a fan of Ruco Chan, I can't bring myself to recommend this series. Don't watch this for Ruco because Ruco deserves better than this half baked character.

Rating

⭐⭐

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