The White Flame [TVB]

Written by Jeanne

"On a scale of 1 to 10, I have to give this series a 3. I have to say that this is possibly one of the worst TV series I have ever seen..."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Chinese Title
Hoong Yee Seou Gei (which had nothing to do with the English title, although they never do)

Episodes
20

Produced In
2002

Cast-Character
Charmaine Sheh-Charlie Yuk Choi Ling
Samuel Chan-Yung Duc Gei
Hong Chi Nei-Go Hiu Lam (Crystal)
Chan Hoi Yi-Lo Bo Bo
Claire Yiu-Ah Leng
Ling Zi Heen-Chan Ga Lok
Gregory Lee-Mun Geen Fai
Yuen Keng Dan-Goo Mei Lan (Goo Goo)
Chu Mei Mei-Rosemary
Chan Ga Yi-Crystal’s Mom

Language
Cantonese (original)

Plot
This series is basically about a group of twenty year olds who are in nursing school. These student nurses share their experiences and become good friends. Blah…blah…blah…

If you don’t want to read spoilers…stop right now!!! {although I think you’ll expect them}

At the nursing school there are the teacher, Crystal, Ah Gei, Bobo, Ah Leng, and Chan Ga Lok. Later we meet Dai Lo Fai. They all have reasons for being in nursing school. Crystal would like to learn some things before reapplying for med school. Crystal’s main goal is not to become a nurse but a doctor like her father and brothers. Ah Gei remembers when his father was dying and the nurse who took care him and his father. He feels very grateful to the nurse and would like to become a nurse. Bobo does not know what she wants to do but she needs a job. She is afraid of everything. Ah Leng would like to meet a handsome doctor hoping to marry him. She is very superficial. Dai Lo Fai is doing this for the money and had a crush on Charlie. Chan Ga Lok wants to get away from his mother and get a job while he’s at it. He’s the funny guy in the group.

Charlie
The audience first meets Charlie in her parents’ restaurant, “Yuk Gei.” Charlie is in her twenties and still does not have a career. She is not in college but she signed up for nursing school because she loves babies and has hopes of working in the maternity ward. In the beginning there is a misunderstanding between Ah Gei and Charlie on the bus to the nursing school. Charlie thought he was a pervert because she thought he touched her foot but it was actually an old man’s umbrella that touched her foot when ah gei was picking the napkins he dropped. *sigh* did you get all the info from my run-on sentence? Anyways, when they got off the bus, Ah Gei saw Crystal and she helped him get rid of Charlie.

In nursing school the nurse teacher says there are four “hearts,” ngoi sum(love), tong ching sum(sympathy), jat yum sum(responsibility), and shuun sum(confidence). I hope I got the sounds right. Over the three years Charlie and her friends, alternate between work, school, and play. “Play” is usually eating, mostly da been lo at yuk gei or elsewhere. (What’s with that? Charmaine always have these themes with food, makes me all hungry at night.) Ah Gei and Charlie forget about the incident on the bus and become friends. (I see clichés here.) At school they have the boring lectures and tests. Charlie is the worst student in the class. She has not much brain but a lot of sympathy. At work Charlie has been paired with Crystal for the same ward (it was bad enough they had to share a room, they didn’t become friends until they had separate rooms and Charlie helped Crystal get better when she had the flu). They are supervised by a nurse everyone calls Goo Goo. Later on in their rotation, Charlie gets to work in the maternity ward. One of the mothers tried very hard to have a child. She did have one but the baby died from complications. Charlie was very depressed when that happened and decided to quit nursing. She did not to quit because Ah Gei asked her to stay because he liked her. Ah Gei asked her to stay after he got some advice from Dai Lo Fai. (Dai Lo Fai liked Charlie but she didn’t like him that way.) Oh man… that scene where Ah Gei “confessed his love” was so cheesy and yuk maah with that song in the background.

Charlie was having some family problems around this time. She got in a fight with her mother about how she never lets her father do anything. Charlie’s mother had reasons for not letting him drink or overwork. Charlie’s father, Yuk Gei, is sick with liver cancer. He had liver problems when Charlie was younger but kept it from her. He fainted and was sent to the hospital. He found out that he has liver cancer and needs surgery. He does have surgery with complications but was fine afterwards. He and Charlie’s mother go to Hawaii together as like a second honeymoon.

Charlie also has relationship problems with Ah Gei because she thought he was cheating on her with Crystal. Charlie and Ah Gei get back together in the end.

Ah Gei
Ah Gei knew Crystal when they were little and has a crush on her. Ah Gei thinks this is “yuen fen” or fate that they meet again in nursing school. At home he lies to his mother because she does not want him to be a nurse. He says that he works at the airport. He buys imported food for his mother to cover up but he’s not very smart about it because his receipt is there with his mother. When his mom does find out, Charlie tries to help Ah Gei convince her. That does not work. The nurse instructor decided to speak to Ah Gei’s mother because he was falling a little behind in class. That probably did the trick.

An episode or two later ah gei’s mom is sick with gallstones or some kind of stone. She needed a small operation to remove it. In the hospital his mom starts to like Charlie and the idea of her being her daughter in law. She is not very fond of Crystal though. When Crystal was sick he made her rice porridge. When he found out that Crystal never ate any of it but Charlie did he was so angry with her. (How irrational) Around this same time, one of his patients died. He was very depressed as a result. He was taking his anger out on everyone, including his mother and his other patients. Everything was better though when he asked her to stay. Ah gei does lie to Charlie. He didn’t want Charlie to misunderstand his relationship with Crystal which is just friendship. He was trying to help Crystal get through her sickness. Charlie was having a hard time too because her father was sick. Charlie was very angry with him but after he confronted her a few times they get back together.

Crystal
Crystal is a pretty depressed and moody person because she feels very left out of her family. Her father and brothers are doctors. I don’t really know what her mother does but she is really busy. Everyone is busy with their big operations except Crystal. When Crystal was younger, her mother was never home. Crystal resented that. She stormed out of the house when she got angry with her family for not asking her to go to the family trip. When Crystal was sick with the flu, Charlie helped her get better. She made Crystal some food because Crystal didn’t want ah gei’s rice porridge. Crystal finally made friends with Charlie. Crystal’s family knew and understood how she felt. Her mother made her a birthday dinner (well, only the cake). The whole family waited for her but Crystal was at the surprise party that Charlie and the gang threw for her. The next day Crystal went home and her mom was on a plane to Taiwan. (There is always the telephone.)

When Crystal’s mom was there she was very worried because there was an earthquake in Taiwan. (There has to be some obstacle in the relationship to make them realize how important they are to each other -_- duh…). Crystal was sick right after her mom came back. She was packing for a trip to Switzerland with her family. Crystal had kidney failure, I think. She tried to hide it from everyone. Ah Gei found out first when she fainted. She didn’t want anyone to know so she would go to the doctor by herself and dressed in long sleeved sweaters to cover the bruises she gets because of her disease. Of course people do find out about her disease. (Well, duh… she stayed at the same hospital as the nursing school.) Crystal had to have her stomach cleaned, I think. It is very painful and she couldn’t take it. Ah gei helps her by encouraging her to stay in the hospital. Her family comes back from Switzerland. Crystal’s mom decided to give up one of her kidneys for her. Crystal’s father and brothers operates on them. Of course she lives in the end. She also realizes that doctors need and rely on nurses. Without nurses the doctors wouldn’t seem that great.

Goo Goo
She is the one character you should pity in this series. She seems happy and all in the beginning. (She also makes me laugh a little because I will always remember her character as Ah King on Kindred Spirit.) She has a good husband who is a doctor. She doesn’t have kids and doesn’t want kids. Her husband makes her happy. They live in a nice apartment.

It’s like that old saying “It too good to be true.” Her husband really wants to have children. When she wants to have children, it’s too late. She became infertile. Her husband buys a puppy though, they named him jei jei. Later on, she finds out that her husband is cheating on her with his secretary(why do men always have affairs with secretaries). His secretary is pregnant with his child. Goo goo and her husband files for divorce.

Goo Goo sees her long lost father again in the hospital she works in. He is sick and dying. She is angry with him at first that she avoids talking to him. She has ambivalent feelings towards him. It is too late to even say goodbye to him. He dies in the hospital. The scene where she cries for her father makes me want to cry.

All of the characters graduate from nursing school. No one dies. Charlie is with Ah Gei. Crystal decides to stay being a nurse. Charlie’s parents come back from Hawaii. Bobo is dating Chan Ga Lok. Ah Leng gets her doctor…ahem…a veterinarian. Dai Lo Fai shows up at the graduation with his girlfriend.

Comments
On a scale of 1 to 10, I have to give this series a 3. I have to say that this is possibly one of the worst TV series I have ever seen. The acting was horrible. The plot was predictable because of the clichés. Boy meets girl, boy and girl dislike each other, boy and girl make up, boy and girl become friends and then good friends and then voila you have boy and girl becomes a couple. You know that no one dies because it is always given away by the clips in the beginning. I don’t even know why the producers like giving away the ending.

It’s pretty hard for me to like this series because I’ve gotten so used to American television. It has been almost three years since I watched any TVB series or Chinese series. I ended on Kindred Spirit, which I didn’t finish watching (it was so long but I liked it), now I begin again by watching this series. I definitely did not start on the right foot. Whenever they have operation scenes in the emergency room it’s not as intense or real. If anyone has ever watched ER on NBC they would know what I am talking about. Why do nurses have to wear such tacky uniforms? What I meant to say is that White Flame doesn’t really try hard to show a good portrayal of a real hospital.

I did not like any of the female characters as a person, except maybe Crystal. They were all very stupid and dumb. They remind of rich white girls that talk about stupid things while chewing bubble gum. How the hell did they get into nursing school? It’s kind of scary to have them working on patients. I would not want to be in that hospital. Crystal is probably the only that knows what she’s doing but she was really cold. Brr… I felt sorry for her towards the end of the series. I liked Goo Goo too. I felt that Goo goo, Crystal and Ah Gei were more important than the main character.

I really hate, no…hate is a strong word, I mean I really dislike Charmaine Sheh because I don’t think she could act at all. Some people also think that she’s drop dead gorgeous or something to that affect. Hearing that makes me laugh so hard that I could puke. There are so many more actresses that are way more gorgeous than she would ever be. I still have to give Charmaine a little credit because I think that she acted a little better in Country Spirit or Herbalist Affair.

The best actor and actresses in here would have to be Samuel Chan, Hong Chi Nei, and Yuen Kay Dan, even though it was mediocre, I guess its something I should expect from bad scripts.

I got these tapes for free and thought it was a total waste of time. Don’t borrow these tapes even if they paid you to watch it. I think it’s a waste of time, unless you actually like Charmaine and girls who act stupid.

Rating
N/A

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The White Flame [TVB]

Written by Jeanne

"On a scale of 1 to 10, I have to give this series a 3. I have to say that this is possibly one of the worst TV series I have ever seen..."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Chinese Title
Hoong Yee Seou Gei (which had nothing to do with the English title, although they never do)

Episodes
20

Produced In
2002

Cast-Character
Charmaine Sheh-Charlie Yuk Choi Ling
Samuel Chan-Yung Duc Gei
Hong Chi Nei-Go Hiu Lam (Crystal)
Chan Hoi Yi-Lo Bo Bo
Claire Yiu-Ah Leng
Ling Zi Heen-Chan Ga Lok
Gregory Lee-Mun Geen Fai
Yuen Keng Dan-Goo Mei Lan (Goo Goo)
Chu Mei Mei-Rosemary
Chan Ga Yi-Crystal’s Mom

Language
Cantonese (original)

Plot
This series is basically about a group of twenty year olds who are in nursing school. These student nurses share their experiences and become good friends. Blah…blah…blah…

If you don’t want to read spoilers…stop right now!!! {although I think you’ll expect them}

At the nursing school there are the teacher, Crystal, Ah Gei, Bobo, Ah Leng, and Chan Ga Lok. Later we meet Dai Lo Fai. They all have reasons for being in nursing school. Crystal would like to learn some things before reapplying for med school. Crystal’s main goal is not to become a nurse but a doctor like her father and brothers. Ah Gei remembers when his father was dying and the nurse who took care him and his father. He feels very grateful to the nurse and would like to become a nurse. Bobo does not know what she wants to do but she needs a job. She is afraid of everything. Ah Leng would like to meet a handsome doctor hoping to marry him. She is very superficial. Dai Lo Fai is doing this for the money and had a crush on Charlie. Chan Ga Lok wants to get away from his mother and get a job while he’s at it. He’s the funny guy in the group.

Charlie
The audience first meets Charlie in her parents’ restaurant, “Yuk Gei.” Charlie is in her twenties and still does not have a career. She is not in college but she signed up for nursing school because she loves babies and has hopes of working in the maternity ward. In the beginning there is a misunderstanding between Ah Gei and Charlie on the bus to the nursing school. Charlie thought he was a pervert because she thought he touched her foot but it was actually an old man’s umbrella that touched her foot when ah gei was picking the napkins he dropped. *sigh* did you get all the info from my run-on sentence? Anyways, when they got off the bus, Ah Gei saw Crystal and she helped him get rid of Charlie.

In nursing school the nurse teacher says there are four “hearts,” ngoi sum(love), tong ching sum(sympathy), jat yum sum(responsibility), and shuun sum(confidence). I hope I got the sounds right. Over the three years Charlie and her friends, alternate between work, school, and play. “Play” is usually eating, mostly da been lo at yuk gei or elsewhere. (What’s with that? Charmaine always have these themes with food, makes me all hungry at night.) Ah Gei and Charlie forget about the incident on the bus and become friends. (I see clichés here.) At school they have the boring lectures and tests. Charlie is the worst student in the class. She has not much brain but a lot of sympathy. At work Charlie has been paired with Crystal for the same ward (it was bad enough they had to share a room, they didn’t become friends until they had separate rooms and Charlie helped Crystal get better when she had the flu). They are supervised by a nurse everyone calls Goo Goo. Later on in their rotation, Charlie gets to work in the maternity ward. One of the mothers tried very hard to have a child. She did have one but the baby died from complications. Charlie was very depressed when that happened and decided to quit nursing. She did not to quit because Ah Gei asked her to stay because he liked her. Ah Gei asked her to stay after he got some advice from Dai Lo Fai. (Dai Lo Fai liked Charlie but she didn’t like him that way.) Oh man… that scene where Ah Gei “confessed his love” was so cheesy and yuk maah with that song in the background.

Charlie was having some family problems around this time. She got in a fight with her mother about how she never lets her father do anything. Charlie’s mother had reasons for not letting him drink or overwork. Charlie’s father, Yuk Gei, is sick with liver cancer. He had liver problems when Charlie was younger but kept it from her. He fainted and was sent to the hospital. He found out that he has liver cancer and needs surgery. He does have surgery with complications but was fine afterwards. He and Charlie’s mother go to Hawaii together as like a second honeymoon.

Charlie also has relationship problems with Ah Gei because she thought he was cheating on her with Crystal. Charlie and Ah Gei get back together in the end.

Ah Gei
Ah Gei knew Crystal when they were little and has a crush on her. Ah Gei thinks this is “yuen fen” or fate that they meet again in nursing school. At home he lies to his mother because she does not want him to be a nurse. He says that he works at the airport. He buys imported food for his mother to cover up but he’s not very smart about it because his receipt is there with his mother. When his mom does find out, Charlie tries to help Ah Gei convince her. That does not work. The nurse instructor decided to speak to Ah Gei’s mother because he was falling a little behind in class. That probably did the trick.

An episode or two later ah gei’s mom is sick with gallstones or some kind of stone. She needed a small operation to remove it. In the hospital his mom starts to like Charlie and the idea of her being her daughter in law. She is not very fond of Crystal though. When Crystal was sick he made her rice porridge. When he found out that Crystal never ate any of it but Charlie did he was so angry with her. (How irrational) Around this same time, one of his patients died. He was very depressed as a result. He was taking his anger out on everyone, including his mother and his other patients. Everything was better though when he asked her to stay. Ah gei does lie to Charlie. He didn’t want Charlie to misunderstand his relationship with Crystal which is just friendship. He was trying to help Crystal get through her sickness. Charlie was having a hard time too because her father was sick. Charlie was very angry with him but after he confronted her a few times they get back together.

Crystal
Crystal is a pretty depressed and moody person because she feels very left out of her family. Her father and brothers are doctors. I don’t really know what her mother does but she is really busy. Everyone is busy with their big operations except Crystal. When Crystal was younger, her mother was never home. Crystal resented that. She stormed out of the house when she got angry with her family for not asking her to go to the family trip. When Crystal was sick with the flu, Charlie helped her get better. She made Crystal some food because Crystal didn’t want ah gei’s rice porridge. Crystal finally made friends with Charlie. Crystal’s family knew and understood how she felt. Her mother made her a birthday dinner (well, only the cake). The whole family waited for her but Crystal was at the surprise party that Charlie and the gang threw for her. The next day Crystal went home and her mom was on a plane to Taiwan. (There is always the telephone.)

When Crystal’s mom was there she was very worried because there was an earthquake in Taiwan. (There has to be some obstacle in the relationship to make them realize how important they are to each other -_- duh…). Crystal was sick right after her mom came back. She was packing for a trip to Switzerland with her family. Crystal had kidney failure, I think. She tried to hide it from everyone. Ah Gei found out first when she fainted. She didn’t want anyone to know so she would go to the doctor by herself and dressed in long sleeved sweaters to cover the bruises she gets because of her disease. Of course people do find out about her disease. (Well, duh… she stayed at the same hospital as the nursing school.) Crystal had to have her stomach cleaned, I think. It is very painful and she couldn’t take it. Ah gei helps her by encouraging her to stay in the hospital. Her family comes back from Switzerland. Crystal’s mom decided to give up one of her kidneys for her. Crystal’s father and brothers operates on them. Of course she lives in the end. She also realizes that doctors need and rely on nurses. Without nurses the doctors wouldn’t seem that great.

Goo Goo
She is the one character you should pity in this series. She seems happy and all in the beginning. (She also makes me laugh a little because I will always remember her character as Ah King on Kindred Spirit.) She has a good husband who is a doctor. She doesn’t have kids and doesn’t want kids. Her husband makes her happy. They live in a nice apartment.

It’s like that old saying “It too good to be true.” Her husband really wants to have children. When she wants to have children, it’s too late. She became infertile. Her husband buys a puppy though, they named him jei jei. Later on, she finds out that her husband is cheating on her with his secretary(why do men always have affairs with secretaries). His secretary is pregnant with his child. Goo goo and her husband files for divorce.

Goo Goo sees her long lost father again in the hospital she works in. He is sick and dying. She is angry with him at first that she avoids talking to him. She has ambivalent feelings towards him. It is too late to even say goodbye to him. He dies in the hospital. The scene where she cries for her father makes me want to cry.

All of the characters graduate from nursing school. No one dies. Charlie is with Ah Gei. Crystal decides to stay being a nurse. Charlie’s parents come back from Hawaii. Bobo is dating Chan Ga Lok. Ah Leng gets her doctor…ahem…a veterinarian. Dai Lo Fai shows up at the graduation with his girlfriend.

Comments
On a scale of 1 to 10, I have to give this series a 3. I have to say that this is possibly one of the worst TV series I have ever seen. The acting was horrible. The plot was predictable because of the clichés. Boy meets girl, boy and girl dislike each other, boy and girl make up, boy and girl become friends and then good friends and then voila you have boy and girl becomes a couple. You know that no one dies because it is always given away by the clips in the beginning. I don’t even know why the producers like giving away the ending.

It’s pretty hard for me to like this series because I’ve gotten so used to American television. It has been almost three years since I watched any TVB series or Chinese series. I ended on Kindred Spirit, which I didn’t finish watching (it was so long but I liked it), now I begin again by watching this series. I definitely did not start on the right foot. Whenever they have operation scenes in the emergency room it’s not as intense or real. If anyone has ever watched ER on NBC they would know what I am talking about. Why do nurses have to wear such tacky uniforms? What I meant to say is that White Flame doesn’t really try hard to show a good portrayal of a real hospital.

I did not like any of the female characters as a person, except maybe Crystal. They were all very stupid and dumb. They remind of rich white girls that talk about stupid things while chewing bubble gum. How the hell did they get into nursing school? It’s kind of scary to have them working on patients. I would not want to be in that hospital. Crystal is probably the only that knows what she’s doing but she was really cold. Brr… I felt sorry for her towards the end of the series. I liked Goo Goo too. I felt that Goo goo, Crystal and Ah Gei were more important than the main character.

I really hate, no…hate is a strong word, I mean I really dislike Charmaine Sheh because I don’t think she could act at all. Some people also think that she’s drop dead gorgeous or something to that affect. Hearing that makes me laugh so hard that I could puke. There are so many more actresses that are way more gorgeous than she would ever be. I still have to give Charmaine a little credit because I think that she acted a little better in Country Spirit or Herbalist Affair.

The best actor and actresses in here would have to be Samuel Chan, Hong Chi Nei, and Yuen Kay Dan, even though it was mediocre, I guess its something I should expect from bad scripts.

I got these tapes for free and thought it was a total waste of time. Don’t borrow these tapes even if they paid you to watch it. I think it’s a waste of time, unless you actually like Charmaine and girls who act stupid.

Rating
N/A

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2009: Lost Memories [Kr]

Written by Funn Lim

"It takes a very brave writer to write such an original and imaginative script. The entire premise of the story may be offensive to some. Japanese may feel this movie insults them, whilst Koreans may feel this movie distorts the very fabric of the truth we all knew. But frankly, the entire premise of this movie is built on two words; What if"

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

IMPORTANT NOTICE
The characters' names in this review was taken from various sources as this reviewer herself did not quite catch their names.

Released In
2002

Origin
South Korea

Directed by
Lee Si-myung

Written by
Lee Sang-hak & Lee Si-myung

Language
Mostly Japanese, some times Korean. The version I saw had English subtitles.

Cast-Character
Kil-Kang Ahn - Lee Myung-Hak
Jang Dong-Gun - Masayuki Sakamoto
Tôru Nakamura - Shojiro Saiko
Jin-ho Seo - Hye-Rin Oh
Goo Shin - Takahashi


Plot
I do not profess to know much about the history of the deep hatred that Koreans has for Japanese but according to this movie, the following events happened;

In 1909, Korean nationalist An Chung-Gun assassinated Japanese statesman Ito Hirobumi, which set in motion the Korean Nationalist cause, where Korea sought independence only to fall into civil war and Korea divided into South and North Korea whilst Japan went into WWII with disastrous results where many people (Chinese, Korean, etc) were murdered and A-boms dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, thus ending what I would call a war that the Japanese deserved to have those A-boms dropped on them As we all know now as the present and true history, that was what really happened. But what if that wasn't what happened? What if, in 1909 the assassin was killed before he could complete his mission and the statesman didn't die? What if Japan later on combined power with USA in WWII, became an ally, dropped the A-bom on Berlin (Nazi Germany) thus ending WWII, Korea never achieved independence, China, Manchuria, Korea all fall into Japan's rule even until the year 2009?

This is the very premise of this movie. What if Korea falls under the Japanese rule?

The movie started in year 2009 where a group of 10 Korean terrorists (or freedom fighters) in an organisation called Hureisenjin burst into an exhibition and all 10 died being killed by JBI (equivalent to FBI) which started a motion of investigations which led to an even bigger conspiracy, At the centre of this conspiracy lies two good friends, one a Japanese named Saiko and another, a Korean (now considered a Japanese) named Sakamoto (with a very Japanese name). These two had been friends for years, where Saiko's wife was Sakamoto's object of infatuation when they were younger. But Sakamoto always had this vision of a young girl whose face he could not clearly see wearing a crescent shaped pendant he could not recognise. After the death of the 10 terrorists, he began to wonder why 10 men were willing to sacrifice themselves for something the even the JBI did not know about? Dots after dots were connected and then Sakamoto realised they were after a Korean artifact used in rituals, such crescent shaped object was actually owned by a group called Inoue Foundation, a very powerful and influential group. When Sakamoto decided to dig deeper into the mystery, his past began to haunt him as his father who was involved in an investigation of an act of terrorism by Hureisenjim many years before was falsely accused of receiving bribe from such terrorist group and was subsequently killed. Sakamoto was himself ashamed of his past when he realised something was amiss. Sakamoto was then framed for the murder he did not commit and he realised, all the people he called his colleagues in the JBI was turning against him, and Saiko too was after Sakamoto, wanting to kill him under the orders of his superior and proclaiming that they were now enemies. Sakamoto narrowly escaped and found himself face to face with a very familiar face whom he could not name, someone he thought he knew once in his deep recesses of his memory and the girl helped him in return, as they were all Koreans. When Sakamoto saw with his own eyes the many deaths that ensued and he heard the truth why the JBI was so keen in killing him, he knew he must stop JBI and the Inoue Foundation. Saiko too knew of the truth and the conspiracy, where the chairman of the present Inoue Foundation used the crescent shaped artifact to travel back in time to change the real history to what was the history in the movie's premise. Sakamoto, having seen all his comrades and the girl he thought he knew died before his eyes went into the time portal to right the wrongs and Saiko with some hesitation jumped into the one way portal with no return to stop Sakamoto from destroying the history and the present he knew.

Will Sakamoto succeed before Saiko got to him first? Will history correct itself?

Comments
It takes a very brave writer to write such an original and imaginative script. The entire premise of the story may be offensive to some. Japanese may feel this movie insults them, whilst Koreans may feel this movie distorts the very fabric of the truth we all knew. But frankly, the entire premise of this movie is built on two words;

What if

I find these two words very intriguing and after having watched this movie, I too wonder, if I am faced with such a truth, will I do a Saiko (meaning preserve the history I knew) or a Sakamoto (correct the history to what it really was). The problem is the choice isn't very obvious.

The year 2009 we see in this movie had what was a false history, and Sakamoto and Saiko at last realised the truth of such lies. But for me, the lie in the end became the truth. Whilst I could write a thesis on whether the 2009 world is a real world or a false real world, I would not debate on such a deep issue. Let me get back to the movie itself. But i must note it will take a Korean to appreciate the impact of the changed future because this movie does not really dwelve into the anomisity of these two nations so those who doesn't know the history would not understand why it is so important to correct the past.

Anyway, excellent premise of a movie, the problem is actually the overzealous art director who seemed to work overtime on the cinematography, including the wind blowing on the bamboo, leaves everywhere, slow-mo in all shootout scenes. This movie is long, and the entire interesting premise was stretched to even a longer time that at times I felt the movie was tedious, and quite boring. The only two reasons I sat through all the endless shootouts and endless freedom fighters vs JBI officers is because of Jang Dong-Gun and I wanted to know the ending for Sakamoto and Saiko. Actually I would think these two factors is enough for any fan of Korean/Japanese movies to sit through the rather confusing plot (at first) to know the deeper meaning of this movie.

Like I have said above, the writer was very brave in speculating what could not have been and making it, weaving it into a believable past and present of this movie. The beginning scene was excellent, where the false history was presented and you will read every line confused, as that wasn't the history we knew. The explanation seems logical and possible, though don't expect an in depth explanation on the function of the crescent shaped artifact or any time travel notions. Just take it as it is, and enjoy the other posed questions of what ifs and believe me, you too will leave the cinema wondering, what if the present we knew is false, what if we live in a present which was built on a false past. would we change it or would we maintain it? To me, the false past has indeed become the real present but then that is a very academic question. When you're the oppressed Koreans you too would want to fight for your independence.

Frankly I am on neither side. I may be too young to say this but after WWII and what the Japanese did to the Chinese, I really don't care much for what their past, present will be in this movie however much I like Saiko and I may be childish to say thus, but after the obviously rigged World Cup games in Korea/ Japan year 2002, I really don't care if the Koreans is a slave to the Japanese in the present world. But for the sake of China that in this movie fell into the hands of Japanese, I guess I'll be Sakamoto.

And one point I do like about this movie about all others. Korean Sakamoto has a very Japanese name, he works for JBI, he eats Sushi, he lives, walks and talks like a Japanese but in the end, he became a Korean fugitive. Sad isn't it?

Anyway, interesting that this movie is made by a Korean when the dialogue and the actors, if I am not mistaken are mostly Japanese. It is quite amazing though the Japanese were not offended with this movie but I do wonder, did it do well in Japan?

Favourite Scenes
When Sakamoto befriended a tough little Korean boy (I thought the boy was a girl, why on Earth he looked like a girl?) who was shot by JBI before his eyes and he saw the pictures the little boy was trying to cling on to, the pictures of the little boy and her father. His father was one of the 10 men Sakamoto killed, and that was when that man screamed at Sakamoto, branding him a traitor to the cause of the Koreans freedom fighters who were trying to correct history. When Sakamoto realised that he killed the boy's father and the boy dying before his eyes, he snapped and he screamed. That was a very good scene, very emotionally charged.

The almost ending scene where Saiko and Sakamoto faced off in the past of 1909, with Sakamoto pointing his gun at the chairman of Inoue Foundation who was in turn pointing his gun at the assassin who was pointing his gun at the Japanese Statesman. On top of that, Saiko was pointing his gun at Sakamoto. It was a question who starts the firing first and it was indeed because either way Saiko or Sakamoto had to die making sure history remains as it is, whether from Sakamoto's point of view or Saiko's point of view.

The very end scene in the modern year of 2009 in Korea where a little girl saw the picture of Korean heroes in the past who helped achieved Korea's independence and well...just look out for that scene.

Most Favourite Scene
Every time Jang Dong-Gun's left or right side of his face facing the screen. As a woman, I can't help but melt at the sight of his handsome side profile.

Worst Scenes
Very high body counts, until I lost count. Honest! The shooting just went on and on and on and worst of all, all in slow-mo which tends to make this whole movie tedious. The reason why this movie was 130 minutes long was because 45 minutes or so was spent on slow-mo shoot outs where JBI officers and terrorists kept dying and dying, bullets kept flying everywhere. A bit unrealistic in this aspect.

Performances Evaluated
I only know two actors, the rest are gave credible performances.

Tôru Nakamura
Japanese actor playing what else but Japanese Saiko. He gave an impressive performance though compared to Jang Dong-Gun, he had very little screen time. At times his Saiko seemed confused, but in the end I could understand why he went all the way to stop Sakamoto. After all, the history you know may not be the real history, but for years you knew it as real, so being a true patriotic Japanese, however ill gotten the present history may have been, Japan being a super power and all, even as an honest Japanese, you can't let it all go down the drain. In that aspect, he played Saiko's dilemma and determination well. You can't blame his Saiko.

Jang Dong-Gun
I have heard a lot of this Korean heart throb, the star of All About Eve and many more. Seen his pictures only twice or so, heard about his Chinese features (plus a very Chinese name, Zhang Dong Jian) and his handsome face. Saw the movie poster and had to agree, both the stars looked good, stylish. And then I saw this movie. Let's just say I am determined to watch all his Korean TV series. Not only did he spoke good enough Japanese (he' a Korean by the way), he played his character Sakamoto with enough of confusion, hatred, pain, confusion, guilt and ultimately regret with so much human emotion, I thought "well well well, this is a bloody good dramatic actor without being overly dramatic". It helps of course he has such a beautiful profile, isn't skinny without any body shape and he has a very deep voice, though he didn't speak much in this movie. He could do the action sequences very well and very convincing to boot and best of all, best best best of all, did I mention he is eye candy to me? You know, sweet to look at? Whilst my review wouldn't have much credibility if I based my entire observation and comments on his good looks but I must admit, he is a very Chinese looking and a very good looking Korean actor, better looking in fact than Bae Young-Jun BUT both as good in the acting departments, thought I personally feel Jang Dong-Gun is a slightly better and more varied actor. I read that he took months to learn his lines in Japanese, and mind you whilst this movie may be tagged as a Korean movie, the dialogue is 80% Japanese, and he spoke 90% Japanese. I would say his effort was commendable and really, a fan of his will love this movie. After all, he is the hero in this movie.

Verdict
A definite must buy for any fans of Jang Dong Gun and action genre. If the guys do not interest you or the story does not excite you, at least the stylish direction will interest you a little so as to encourage you to watch this movie from start to the end. This movie could have been so much more but as it is now, it's really entertaining.

Rating


A Question To All
Will you be a Saiko or a Sakamoto?

Interesting Answer
If you're wondering the following, fret not Funn is here!

Who is that girl Sakamoto kept seeing in his dreams?
Definitely not the present girl in the false present. She is actually from the real past, perhaps some relatives of the present girl in the false present. The reason why Sakamoto had memories of her is because after all, time travel is like jet lag you know, there are some side effects. You may remember stuff which may have happened in the past but the past has yet to materialise. Confusing eh?

An update [11.09.2005 ]: Saw the movie again and I remember it was mentioned that the new future knew about the real future because a female reseacher was dragged into the time travel portal and lived until old age. Could it be that Sakamoto was a reseacher together with this woman he saw in his dreams, like some vague buried memory? Try not to over exert yourself on this point since the director did not even bother to clear this confusion.

Was Sakamoto's father really a cop who took bribes from the Korean terrorists?
No. His father actually tried to travel back in time to change the course of history into the original history but was killed instead. He was then defamed by the Japanese counterpart.

So Saiko and Sakamoto can't go back once they crossed the time portal?
Yes.

Is Korea doing better now in the real present than in the movie's false present?
Nobody wants to be subjected to the governance of some country other than your own, so I guess South Korea is doing better now. But please do not remind me of 2002 World Cup.

When the real past was changed into the false past, we see the present 2009. If Sakamoto changed it into a real past what would that mean?
It would mean some people may not exist, like Saiko may not have existed, etc etc etc. Like I said, time travel is tricky, the end may be the beginning and the beginning may be the end. I myself is confused.

Is there such a thing called time travel?
I do not know but I believe you can travel into the future but you can't travel to the past. What's done is done. You can't turn back time because time is constant and time moves only forward, never back works, even if I were to rewind the clock to 3 pm when it is actually 5 pm, what I am doing in effect is cheating myself that this is now 3 pm and not the real 5 pm. Why cheat yourself when you can just admit, it's 5 pm now and I so I must do something to make sure by the time it's 6pm I have not wasted 1 hour of my time thinking how to turn back to 4 pm. And quite frankly I don't think you can even time travel to the future come to think about it since the future has yet to happen and so how can one travel to an uncertain timeline?

So how did Saiko and Sakomoto and that chairman of the organisation travelled back in time?
Using the crescent shaped object. But don't expect this movie to explain how. Just appreciate the premise of the story and forget about logic.

So who was the man who assassinated the assassin who tried to assassinate the statesman in the beginning scene?
The chairman of Inoue Foundation, though we thought it was his great great grandfather or something. Actually it was the same man who traveled back in time to stop the important assassination which sparked the Korean revolution so to speak.

So were those dead Koreans terrorists or freedom fighters?
Depends on how you see them. Muslim world may view Al-Qaeda as freedom fighters, crusaders but we all see them as terrorists. The line there is more obvious but in this movie, it may not be so clear. Like someone once told me, a freedom fighter to a man may be a terrorist to another.

Is it possible for the little boy to live again in the real future?
It's a hopeful and optimistic ending. But let's not forget, there was a very bloody civil war after the events in this movie so in most probability this boy may not even exist as his grandpa may have been drafted and then killed in war. But again it is an optimistic ending though I have my own preferred ending, however impossible that may be.

Preferred Ending
The ending scene showed the little boy as a young student visiting the museum and saw Sakamoto in a picture of freedom fighters. Frankly, I would prefer that Saiko now a tourist in Korea with his wife and daughter Keiko looking over the pictures and saw Sakamoto and somehow he thought he knew this guy. I mean I like Saiko and I want him to have a good end you know.

Interesting Drool Factor
I just had to put this lovely side profile of a picture here. Notice the ultra stylish glasses, and their serious expressions. Notice they're actually at eye level but in the movie I kinda thought Jang Dong-Gun is about half a head shorter than the Japanese actor. Anyway, girls, together now...sighhhhhhhhhh

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An Herbalist Affair [TVB]

Written by Serena

"Best Actor: Most people would say Roger Kwok, but in my opinion, definitely Derek Lee!!"

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Length
20 episodes

Year
2002

Cast
Roger Kwok -Cheung Yee Fai
Charmaine Sheh - Ruby Ng Sin Yu/Ah Bee
Melissa Ng - Sam Yuet
Derek Lee - Wai Yat Siew
Eileen Yeow - Kau Kau
Kou Hung - Cheung Wai Onn
Wu Fung - Cheung Tong Sang

Plot
Cheung Tong Sang (Wu Fung), a famous herbalist, gave his business to his son, Wai Onn (Kou Hung) after his wife died. Unfortunately, Wai Onn kept urging people to buy these pills, not knowing that not everyone could eat them so many people got sick, and some even landed in hospital. Cheung Yee Fai (Roger Kowk), Wai Onn's son, worked in another famous herbalist company, and this is were love comes in. Ah Bee (Charmaine Sheh), daughter of his rich boss, is hired as his secretary and at first, Yee Fai did not like her at all, thinking she was imcompetent, but later on, they fall in love.

Althought Ah Bee's father is very rich, she didn't want anyone to know about that, as well as not wanting to rely on his wealth. When Yee Fai found out about her father, he was pretty angry at that, thinking she was spying on him, so he went off to Shanghai to work, and to find an old friend of his grandfather's. Ah Bee found out about this and decided to follow him, to help out. Yee Fai then meets Wai Yat Siew (Derek Lee) and his friend, a female herbalist, Sum Yuet (Melissa Ng).

Soon enough, Fai and Yat Siew become good buddies, so of course, it was only natural that good, kind, Yat Siew volunteered to search for Yee Fai's grandfather's old friend. But little did he know that Tong Sang's old friend was actually his mother!! Well, he did find that out, from overhearing a conversation Sum Yuet had with his mother, so he begged them to let him go back to Hong Kong with Yee Fai to meet his father. At first, his mother would NOT let, but Sum Yuet helped convinced her, saying she had to go to Hong Kong with her dad as well.

In the end, Yat Siew ended up staying at Fai's house and everyone liked him a lot. Except for Wai Onn, who was very suspicious of him.....once he even accused him of coming to Hong Kong to hurt his family!! Well, Yat Siew's mother knew about this and couldn't take it, so she, Sum Yuet and Yat Siew flew back to Shanghai.

Soon on, Fai's irresponsible sister, ended up oweing $200 000 to back her gambling fees, so Ah Bee used her dad's money to pay it off, even though Yee Fai did NOT want her to do that. Ah Bee's father hated Yee Fai, thinking he wasn't not rich enough for his daughter and that Yee Fai only wanted Ah Bee for her money, so Ah Bee and Yee Fai decided to "pretend" they've split up, but haven't really. Later on, when they went back to Shanghai, they agreed to really split up, and to meet back a year later, so Yee Fai can go and study chinese medicine while Ah Bee can go and study fashion design in Milan. But before that, Yee Fai's sister asked if she could borrow $40 000 to pay back the money she borrowed when gambling, and since she was Yee Fai's sister, she let her.

Well, Yee Fai stayed in Shanghai to study chinese medicine, like I said, and he ended up falling for Sum Yuet. In Milan, Ah Bee married this rich guy called James, to save her dad's company. And Yat Siew also fell for someone, Kau Kau (Eileen Yeow) to be exact. Their "dates" were very interesting, funny and cute as Kau Kau was exactly the opposite of Yat Siew. But later on, she flew off, leaving him wandering what on earth was that about.

After Yee Fai finished his herbalist course, he flew back to Hong Kong and discovered Ah Bee and James were together, so he was very happy for them. Unfortunately, James was a very jealous person, so whenever he saw Ah Bee and Fai together, he thought they were back together again. So to clear up his head, he always went to pubs and to drink and started cheating on Ah Bee with an old girlfriend of his, Anna.

Ah Bee found out she was pregnant just before James started cheating on her, so when she saw Anna and James together, kissing and giggling, it was no wonder she fainted. Once she was in hospital, and woken up, she cried and told Yee Fai about James and Anna. How unhappy she was. And then the doctor just has to come along and tell her that she has stomach cancer, and would have to go to Shanghai to get the best medical attention possible, so Ah Bee and Fai went together.

Sum Yuet was not happy to see Yee Fai spending so much time with Ah Bee, but she kept it all inside, until Ah Bee came to her and told her that Fai loved her, not Sum Yuet, and told her to back off. The reason Ah Bee was so mean was because to treat her stomach cancer, she would have to lose the baby, which she SO wanted no to do. She once ever tried to jump off a bridge cos she had lost her baby (look below), but Yee Fai saved her just in time.

Well in the end, Ah Bee and Sum Yuet became good friends, after Ah Bee came to her senses, and she said she'd "give" Yee Fai to Sum Yuet jokingly. And oh yeah, about Yat Siew. Well, Kau Kau came back, saying she was pregnant with his baby, but that wasn't true, because the baby was hers and some gangster. She only said that to Yat Siew to get money off him. But soon enough, she fell in love with him. Yat Siew's dad found out about Kau Kau and the gangster, but couldn't prove it to Yat Siew until one day, at the airport, Yat Siew saw Kau Kau and the gangster hugging and kissing, and he was extremely upset, but forgave her, once she came crawling back. But the others weren't so easy to please. In Yat Siew's mother's restaurant, the gangster came back, trying to kill Kau Kau, but Kau Kau accidentally fell when he tried to chop her and she knocked Ah Bee into the edge of a table and that was how Ah Bee lost her baby. But things for sorted out and everyone soon accepted Kau Kau, so she and Yat Siew got married and had her baby, even though it wasn't his. So all's wells, that ends well. =)

Comments
Overall Opinion: I loved this series, but only from 1-4 and parts in the beginning about Kau Kau (Eileen Yeow) and Wai Yat Siew and Yee Fai and Sum Yuet. Those parts were really cute and I loved them. But towards the end, it got pretty boring and annoying, especially Charmaine's character, Ah Bee. The movie had a great cast, who played their parts really well, so I'm giving this series three stars and a half. =)

Favourite Character: Well at first it was Ng Sin Yu/Ruby Ng/Ah Bee (Charmaine Sheh), as she was really cute and funny, but then towards the end, it changed to Cheung Yee Fai (Roger Kwok), as Ah Bee became my most unliked character. But both of them played their parts well, especially Roger. I've never seen ATE I or II (only bits and pieces) so this was one of the first movies I've seen in him in a long time, and he was very good as Yee Fai. Yee Fai was a good guy too, funny, smart and fun, so he was the kind of guy you could probably like from the beginning till the end =)

Most Disliked Character: At first, it was Wai Onn (Kou Hung). He was so annoying!! He kept on going on about Yee Fai and drinking all these medical stuff and he was SO unreasonable when it came to Wai Yat Siew (Derek Lee) Ugh, he was the dad nobody would like to have! Half the time I wanted to jump at him and strangle his neck!! But later on, that turned to Ah Bee. She was beginning to seem a lot like Wai Onn, annoying and unreasonable. She was so slack to Sum Yuet (Melissa Ng) and kept going to Yee Fai, "Don't leave me here, I need you" in a whiny, sulky voice. Grrr......how could she change so much?!

Best Actor: Most people would say Roger Kwok, but in my opinion, definitely Derek Lee!! I learnt that this was his first serial ever and personally, I thought he acted very well in it. His acting was very natural and he was just amazing as Wai Yat Siew; it was almost as if he was Yat Siew himself! And he was just so cute in the scenes with Eileen Yeow (Kau Kau). Another good actor was Kou Hung (Wai Onn). Even though he pissed me off, he acted very well as an annoying father!

Best Actress: Melissa Ng, definitely. I've never seen her act as a character like Sum Yuet; most of the time she played the responsible, dull characters, but this time was different. She was very cool in A Herbalist Affair and pretty funny too, especially when she was arguing with Roger Kwok's character, Yee Fai! Hehe, yeah, definitely a 4.9999/5 for her.

Rating
N/A

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An Herbalist Affair [TVB]

Written by Serena

"Best Actor: Most people would say Roger Kwok, but in my opinion, definitely Derek Lee!!"

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Length
20 episodes

Year
2002

Cast
Roger Kwok -Cheung Yee Fai
Charmaine Sheh - Ruby Ng Sin Yu/Ah Bee
Melissa Ng - Sam Yuet
Derek Lee - Wai Yat Siew
Eileen Yeow - Kau Kau
Kou Hung - Cheung Wai Onn
Wu Fung - Cheung Tong Sang

Plot
Cheung Tong Sang (Wu Fung), a famous herbalist, gave his business to his son, Wai Onn (Kou Hung) after his wife died. Unfortunately, Wai Onn kept urging people to buy these pills, not knowing that not everyone could eat them so many people got sick, and some even landed in hospital. Cheung Yee Fai (Roger Kowk), Wai Onn's son, worked in another famous herbalist company, and this is were love comes in. Ah Bee (Charmaine Sheh), daughter of his rich boss, is hired as his secretary and at first, Yee Fai did not like her at all, thinking she was imcompetent, but later on, they fall in love.

Althought Ah Bee's father is very rich, she didn't want anyone to know about that, as well as not wanting to rely on his wealth. When Yee Fai found out about her father, he was pretty angry at that, thinking she was spying on him, so he went off to Shanghai to work, and to find an old friend of his grandfather's. Ah Bee found out about this and decided to follow him, to help out. Yee Fai then meets Wai Yat Siew (Derek Lee) and his friend, a female herbalist, Sum Yuet (Melissa Ng).

Soon enough, Fai and Yat Siew become good buddies, so of course, it was only natural that good, kind, Yat Siew volunteered to search for Yee Fai's grandfather's old friend. But little did he know that Tong Sang's old friend was actually his mother!! Well, he did find that out, from overhearing a conversation Sum Yuet had with his mother, so he begged them to let him go back to Hong Kong with Yee Fai to meet his father. At first, his mother would NOT let, but Sum Yuet helped convinced her, saying she had to go to Hong Kong with her dad as well.

In the end, Yat Siew ended up staying at Fai's house and everyone liked him a lot. Except for Wai Onn, who was very suspicious of him.....once he even accused him of coming to Hong Kong to hurt his family!! Well, Yat Siew's mother knew about this and couldn't take it, so she, Sum Yuet and Yat Siew flew back to Shanghai.

Soon on, Fai's irresponsible sister, ended up oweing $200 000 to back her gambling fees, so Ah Bee used her dad's money to pay it off, even though Yee Fai did NOT want her to do that. Ah Bee's father hated Yee Fai, thinking he wasn't not rich enough for his daughter and that Yee Fai only wanted Ah Bee for her money, so Ah Bee and Yee Fai decided to "pretend" they've split up, but haven't really. Later on, when they went back to Shanghai, they agreed to really split up, and to meet back a year later, so Yee Fai can go and study chinese medicine while Ah Bee can go and study fashion design in Milan. But before that, Yee Fai's sister asked if she could borrow $40 000 to pay back the money she borrowed when gambling, and since she was Yee Fai's sister, she let her.

Well, Yee Fai stayed in Shanghai to study chinese medicine, like I said, and he ended up falling for Sum Yuet. In Milan, Ah Bee married this rich guy called James, to save her dad's company. And Yat Siew also fell for someone, Kau Kau (Eileen Yeow) to be exact. Their "dates" were very interesting, funny and cute as Kau Kau was exactly the opposite of Yat Siew. But later on, she flew off, leaving him wandering what on earth was that about.

After Yee Fai finished his herbalist course, he flew back to Hong Kong and discovered Ah Bee and James were together, so he was very happy for them. Unfortunately, James was a very jealous person, so whenever he saw Ah Bee and Fai together, he thought they were back together again. So to clear up his head, he always went to pubs and to drink and started cheating on Ah Bee with an old girlfriend of his, Anna.

Ah Bee found out she was pregnant just before James started cheating on her, so when she saw Anna and James together, kissing and giggling, it was no wonder she fainted. Once she was in hospital, and woken up, she cried and told Yee Fai about James and Anna. How unhappy she was. And then the doctor just has to come along and tell her that she has stomach cancer, and would have to go to Shanghai to get the best medical attention possible, so Ah Bee and Fai went together.

Sum Yuet was not happy to see Yee Fai spending so much time with Ah Bee, but she kept it all inside, until Ah Bee came to her and told her that Fai loved her, not Sum Yuet, and told her to back off. The reason Ah Bee was so mean was because to treat her stomach cancer, she would have to lose the baby, which she SO wanted no to do. She once ever tried to jump off a bridge cos she had lost her baby (look below), but Yee Fai saved her just in time.

Well in the end, Ah Bee and Sum Yuet became good friends, after Ah Bee came to her senses, and she said she'd "give" Yee Fai to Sum Yuet jokingly. And oh yeah, about Yat Siew. Well, Kau Kau came back, saying she was pregnant with his baby, but that wasn't true, because the baby was hers and some gangster. She only said that to Yat Siew to get money off him. But soon enough, she fell in love with him. Yat Siew's dad found out about Kau Kau and the gangster, but couldn't prove it to Yat Siew until one day, at the airport, Yat Siew saw Kau Kau and the gangster hugging and kissing, and he was extremely upset, but forgave her, once she came crawling back. But the others weren't so easy to please. In Yat Siew's mother's restaurant, the gangster came back, trying to kill Kau Kau, but Kau Kau accidentally fell when he tried to chop her and she knocked Ah Bee into the edge of a table and that was how Ah Bee lost her baby. But things for sorted out and everyone soon accepted Kau Kau, so she and Yat Siew got married and had her baby, even though it wasn't his. So all's wells, that ends well. =)

Comments
Overall Opinion: I loved this series, but only from 1-4 and parts in the beginning about Kau Kau (Eileen Yeow) and Wai Yat Siew and Yee Fai and Sum Yuet. Those parts were really cute and I loved them. But towards the end, it got pretty boring and annoying, especially Charmaine's character, Ah Bee. The movie had a great cast, who played their parts really well, so I'm giving this series three stars and a half. =)

Favourite Character: Well at first it was Ng Sin Yu/Ruby Ng/Ah Bee (Charmaine Sheh), as she was really cute and funny, but then towards the end, it changed to Cheung Yee Fai (Roger Kwok), as Ah Bee became my most unliked character. But both of them played their parts well, especially Roger. I've never seen ATE I or II (only bits and pieces) so this was one of the first movies I've seen in him in a long time, and he was very good as Yee Fai. Yee Fai was a good guy too, funny, smart and fun, so he was the kind of guy you could probably like from the beginning till the end =)

Most Disliked Character: At first, it was Wai Onn (Kou Hung). He was so annoying!! He kept on going on about Yee Fai and drinking all these medical stuff and he was SO unreasonable when it came to Wai Yat Siew (Derek Lee) Ugh, he was the dad nobody would like to have! Half the time I wanted to jump at him and strangle his neck!! But later on, that turned to Ah Bee. She was beginning to seem a lot like Wai Onn, annoying and unreasonable. She was so slack to Sum Yuet (Melissa Ng) and kept going to Yee Fai, "Don't leave me here, I need you" in a whiny, sulky voice. Grrr......how could she change so much?!

Best Actor: Most people would say Roger Kwok, but in my opinion, definitely Derek Lee!! I learnt that this was his first serial ever and personally, I thought he acted very well in it. His acting was very natural and he was just amazing as Wai Yat Siew; it was almost as if he was Yat Siew himself! And he was just so cute in the scenes with Eileen Yeow (Kau Kau). Another good actor was Kou Hung (Wai Onn). Even though he pissed me off, he acted very well as an annoying father!

Best Actress: Melissa Ng, definitely. I've never seen her act as a character like Sum Yuet; most of the time she played the responsible, dull characters, but this time was different. She was very cool in A Herbalist Affair and pretty funny too, especially when she was arguing with Roger Kwok's character, Yee Fai! Hehe, yeah, definitely a 4.9999/5 for her.

Rating
N/A

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