5 TVB Series that were much better than I expected!

There so many new TVB series every year. Whilst I look forwards to watching some, there are some series that I'm just not interested in. It might be because I'm not interested in the cast, or it might be because the storyline doesn't appeal to me. Some of them I do watch to pass time, some I watch now and then, but some I end up really enjoying. For example I'm watching Divas in Distress now, which I had minimum interest in, but I'm finding myself quite enjoying the show!


Here are another 5 of those series, ranked with the last one mentioned being the one I like the most. Series 4 to 1 were actually one of those series that left me longing for the next episode Monday to Thursday and slightly miffed on Fridays as I had to wait for the weekend to pass before I the next episode was available. 

5. Ten Brothers 十兄弟 (2007)

Story in 3 sentences: 
-Kenix Kwok eats some magic beans and gives birth to 10 sons. 
-Frankie Lam who is her admirer looks after the children with her, which all grew up almost overnight and all have different magic powers. 
-They all develop a loving family relationship but all 10 sons sacrifice their life for their mother in the end.

I didn't see the appeal with 10 men with weird haircuts acting like children. It was quite sweet actually, it was lovely seeing the brothers learning what is happening around them. They all had a kind heart but didn't understand what was right and what was wrong. It was also nice seeing the newly wed Kenix Kwok and Frankie Lam leading together as a pair. The show was quite comedic as the brothers utilised their different powers. The ending was sad though, even though all the brothers died happily and together.

4. Relic of an Emissary 洪武三十二 (2011)

Story in 3 sentences:
-Michael is an unlikable imperial guard who loses his memories and becomes good, and serves Joel Chan, the King.
-He finds out that he actually works for Joe Ma who wants the throne, but is now loyal towards Joel Chan.
-When Joe Ma becomes king he chops his arm off and lives away as a commoner with a princess.

I didn't watch E.U so I never got with the obsession over Michael Tse's "Laughing Gor".  I do think that Michael is a good actor but to this day his presence in a series won't make we interested in it. I also wasn't interested in Elanne Kong either and assumed that she wouldn't do a very good performance but she proved me wrong as I really liked Elanne Kong in this. The storyline was very captivating, rather dramatic but I still wanted to watch it. It was rather unpredictable too!

Question off the topic, can someone tell me if the Laughing Gor in E.U, Turning point and Lives of Omission the same person, or different characters with the same name? I'm a bit confused there, thanks!


3. Wax and Wane 團圓 (2011)

Story in 3 sentences:
-Roger Kwok and Sunny Chan are relatives but their families are against each other with their respective noodle businesses.
-Sunny Chan turns into horrible person, Roger fancies his little brother's girlfriend.
-The two family solves their misunderstanding, Sunny Chan becomes a goody again as Ron Ng and Kate Tsui go back together again.

From the start this series seemed like a rip-off of Moonlight Renaissance, they both have the family feud and the man and women from each side who just wants to be together. I loved the all the acting and seeing the transformation of Roger and his attitude towards Kate and her family. The most annoying thing was Sunny's character when he got jealous of Roger, but I'd say that's down to some fine acting too. The series had a nice ending too with everyone paired, and I like happy endings!

2. Rosy Business  巾幗梟雄 (2009)

Story in 3 sentences
-Wayne Lai begins work at a rice business run by Sheren Tang and her husband in hope of making money to give back to his village.
-The two form a great friendship as they stop Pierre Ngo and his mother try to steal the business as their own.
-Wayne contracts a deadly disease spreading around town and dies, and Sheren lives to bring trucks full of rice back to his village.

I didn't even watch the first couple of episodes. I only started to watch bits of the later episodes when my parents were watching it on TV, but I found myself watching the whole of the rest of the episodes shortly after. This show was so popular after all and won countless awards. I actually liked "No Regrets" more but I can't include that in this list because I wanted to watch that series as soon as TVB announced they were to produce it!

1. A Fistful of Stances 鐵馬尋橋 (2010)

Story in 3 sentences:
-Yuen Qiu's husband disappeared and she had to raise her children up herself but her eldest son is also lost.
-Grown up, she finds the eldest child, Kevin Cheng and they all want to know what happened to her husband, and they are certain it's something to do with Dominic Lam.
-The truth is found, Dominic Lam was the murderer and Kevin Cheng becomes a martial arts master.

I wasn't very sure about the rankings of the other 4 series, but this one definitely tops the list! Another series similar to Moonlight Renaissance but coupled with martial arts action.
I remember the first few episodes being a bit slow when they were revealing the past and questions of the families. I also remember Jacky Heung, who played Dominic Lam's son. He was pretty bad at acting.
However the interactions between the siblings were so warming and Kenneth Ma was so cool in this series! Dominic Lam was so incredibly evil in this series too and Natalie Tong really shone. The martial arts storyline was exciting, and my blood boiled when I saw Nancy Wu's character.
I'm glad it had a happy ending too! It's a series that I would very much like to watch again. 


Any more?

Were there any series that you found yourself not initially interested in but loved by the end of it?

回到三國 Three Kingdoms RPG review

Spoilers alert!

I really enjoyed "A Step Into The Past" so I had been looking forwards to "Three Kingdom RPG". I also like   all of the main leads. It was quite interesting to see how they put in the story of borrowing arrows from Cao Cao and tying Kenneth's character with it, as well as when he found Hua Tuo to save Zhu Ge Liang's wife.


Kenneth Ma as Sze Ma Shun / Wun Shun / 司馬信

At the start, Wun Shun does not understand how to respect others, and thinks little about others in his actions. In Hong Kong, he masters the skill of playing video games revolving characters of the Three Kingdoms. Unfortunately that is all he is good at. No longer a young man, he does not have steady source of income, and only works as an extra for TV series. Even in this job he is lazy and takes every opportunity to do as little as possible.

One day, during work as an extra for an ancient series, Wun Shun is transported back to the Three Kingdoms era (and luckly he is in costume, and even has a wig to fit in with the people of that time). He meets Fan Gan who looks up to him as his saviour, giving him somewhere to live. Not long after, Wun Shun meets his idol, Zhu Ge Liang. When Zhu Ge Liang is approached by Lau Bei to help him with war strategies, Zhu Ge Liang does not choose Wun Shun to help him, and Wun Shun becomes irritated with Zhu Ge Liang vowing that their friendship is over. Wun Shun later works for Hon Leung, who carries the same position as Zhu Ge Liang.

Through texting his sister, Wun Shun plans to return to the present time at a certain date. During his last few days, he sings a love song to Song Yau and Song Yau develops romantic feelings for Wun Shun, even though he feels nothing.

Finally, the day comes where Wun Shun can return to the future. He causes choas at Lau Bei's house before leaving. Unfortunately he goes to the wrong place to be transported back to Hong Kong so is still stranded in the past. Having ran away and caused chaos from Lau Bei's house, he is captured as a criminal and put into jail. It is not only because of Song Yau that he is released. However he is demoted to a servant.
Later he finds out that Hon Shun has a plan to kill Zhu Ge Liang and blame it on himself. He thinks of a plan to show Lau Bei that Hon Shun wants to kill Zhu Ge Liang. He succeeds, and Zhu Ge Liang then asks Wun Shun to help him with his work.

Later, he gets shot by an arrow and experiences a near death experience. It is here where he fully re-evaluates his actions and becomes considerate for other. Since he had mislead Song Yau into thinking they were a pair, he tells her that though she is a great girl, he has no romantic feelings for her.

His actions later causes him to have to leave his area, but he is wanted dead by Zhu Yu. Saved by Song Yau, he finally finds that he does indeed have feelings for her, but by the time he decides to tell her, she had already gone.

He is later captured by Cao Cao's strategist, who once worked for Lau Bei. Wun Shun is forced to help them defeat Lau Bei, and cannot just escape when the opposition also captures Song Yau.

Later he finds out that he still had an opportunity to return to Hong Kong and vows to take Song Yau back with him. Sadly when this opportunity comes, only Wun Shun manages to get back to the future, watching Song Yau being left in the past.

Now back in Hong Kong, Wun Shun is no longer the boy he used to be, and works to open his own successful fast food chain, whilst tying history of the Three Kingdoms in his business. He watches the weather every day to look for an opportunity to return to the Three Kingdoms era. 30 years past, and there has been no opportunity for Wun Shun to go back. He as a large painting of Song Yau in his office and has the same sandwich everyday- one he made with Song Yau before. He suddenly finds that there is another chance for him to go back to Song Yau and goes the the place where he was to go back.

As Wun Sun approaches the blue light to take him back, he gets a heart attack. Only metres away from the portal light, he realises he can't get there in time, and sings the love song he once sung Song Yau as he dies, arm reached out for the blue light.

Kenneth's character really annoyed me at first. I didn't like his attitude how he always thought he as right and how he always acted as he was above all others.  For example at that start of the show when he though that Raymond's character should have taken him as his helper and threw a huge strop when he didn't. The two had not met for long, and Wun Shun had done little to show he had any intelligence.


There were some complaints from viewers, saying that Kenneth was too old to portray such a character. I personally really enjoyed it. He does comedy very well and pulls all the right faces. I remember chuckling after he fell down the cliff and was said "I thought you said that even cliffs wouldn't put you in a difficult position" to the dead warrior. 

His ending was so sad! So there he was, waiting every day for 30 years for a chance to go back to the past to meet Song Yau again. When he does get the opportunity finally comes he dies. As in the finale, Song Yau does come to the future, couldn't they let him see her first to fulfil his wish?

Also I think that he thought that he really belonged to the Three Kingdoms era after he got back to the future, for when he was trying to go back he said "Song Yau, I'm coming back". It just makes everything that little more sad :(



I think Kenneth Ma is great character. Wun Shun differs greatly from his doctor role in The Hippocratic Crush and his evil role in Tiger Cubs or Grace Under Fire. 



Raymond Lam as Zhu Ge Liang

Zhu Ge Liang is a scholar who is seeked by Lau Bei to work as on of his strategists. He has an intelligent mind, helping Lau Bei to solve many different problems. This causes jealousy from others such as Hor Leung and Chow Yu who both plot to murder him. Luckily both of their schemes fail. He meets Wun Shun before becoming Lau Bei's strategist. After getting to know Wun Shun, Zhe Ge Liang thinks of him as a good friend and trusts him greatly. Zhu Ge Liang cares deeply for his wife, a women with poor health but with a good understanding of war strategies and who can help him in developing his own strategies.

He continues to help Lau Bei fight his wars.

Wasn't very fond of Raymond's moustache at the start of the series, but I got used to it! 

I really did like Raymond's portrayal of Zhu Ge Liang. It was different to any other characters he had done, and he came across as a modest, wise and calm person. I liked how his character cared for his wife, and they had great interactions in the series. It did seem like Zhu Ge Liang wouldn't have got very far in his career without his wife though since she was always helping him with war strategies and translated old scripts. 
It was also nice to see him trusting Wun Shun as a close friend. 

His character didn't really get an ending, as in he was still doing what he'd been doing the whole series which is fine. It was lovely to see that his wife could stand up again though.

Tavia Yeung as Song Yau

Song Yau is a housemaid at Lau Bei's house. Having worked there since she was young, Lau Bei and his wives see her as their daughter. Wun Shun affected her life from the start when he told of freestyle loving in Hong Kong, leading her to not accept a marriage proposal from a well-educated, good natured man from a rich family.  She is later mislead into thinking that Wun Shun had romantic feeling for her, and she started to have feelings for him too.
Wun Shun develops guilt after a while, and leaves Song Yau heart-broken when he tells her that he never had feelings for her.

She is later captured, by the opposition of Lau Bei to force the also captured Wun Shun to help them defeat Lau Bei.

Wun Shun tells her that he would take her back to Hong Kong. When the time comes, Song Yau is unable to travel to the future with him, watching him leave her. At the end of the finale, it shows Song Yau arriving in the future 30 years after Wun Shun went back. However, Wun Shun was already dead. Song Yau tears up.

Tavia was the female lead of Three Kingdoms, but I felt that Leung Ka Ki had more screen time for her. I enjoyed Tavia's limited screen time, even though she isn't important in the series apart from being Kenneth's love interest. To be honest, I think she was also there to make watchers feel pain when she and Wun Shun could never get together.

Top notch acting though as usual. This was her first collaboration with Kenneth. They shot The Hippocratic Crush later. I think it certainly helped with their chemistry there!

Others

There wasn't any weak acting here. I loved the acting of Lau Bei and his two brothers. All the interaction between the men was very likeable to me. I've heard some complaining that the relationship between the men seemed homosexual, but I didn't think so. To me, it showed that they were loyal to each other and caring to others as well: if they treated each others with such respect they should also care for other people.

I also really enjoyed Leung Ka Ki, as Zhu Ge Liang's wife. Wearing minimal make up to portray the ugly and ill- healthed wife of Zhu Ge Liang  (personally I thought she was still quite pretty), I thought she gave it all. I look forward to seeing her again in another TVB series!

Fan Gan was a great addition to the series. I got worried about TVB killing his character a few times. I felt sorry for him when Wun Shun kept bossing him about but he wouldn't complain. It was sweet when Wun Shun started to think of him as a good brother of his. I hope that he got promoted to a high rank on the war field and got lots of money!
Fan Gan is a great loyal friend. Great portrayal too! I didn't remember seeing the actor either, but he definitely left a deep impression on me here!

It was nice watching Kenneth's character meeting the ancient people, especially Zhu Ge Liang, who was his idol. It was also funny how he often used Hong Kong Slang and even some English when he was in the past. You'd think that after being in the past for so long he'd get used to talking proper chinese right? Another scene which I remember finding very enjoyable was when he just got transported back, and saw loads of pandas on the mountains (however fake looking they were!). It just seemed to add the cherry on the top for me to show how different things were to be for Wun Shun!

Again with the ending: it just wasn't very nice for me! Even though we only saw Wun Shun missing Song Yau, no doubt she also missed him until she got to the future too. Then she saw an aged and dead Wun Shun. It's going to be awkward for her as she's in the future now, and has no Hong Kong identity, which basically means she'll be thrown out of Hong Kong. Her only hope would be Wun Shun's little sister who only knew of her. So it's a sad sad ending for both characters. As again, it seems like Song Yau's character was to distress the audience watching this series. If she wasn't there, Wun Shun would be happy in the future, whilst still becoming rich and successful.

TVB series 2012, who have we seen the most? (Jan-June)

Again, as in a previous post, http://therearethreehahahas.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/tvb-series-2011-who-have-we-seen-most.html I have created a word cloud to show which actors/ actresses we have seen the most recently, and also who we will be seeing in the series that TVB have shown to air next. The bigger the name the more series the person has been in. It's only the first half of 2012, wonder who we will be seeing next!

As I noticed, Linda has been in a lot of series recently, from the naive girl in "L'escargot" to the graceful but rather stuck up dancer in "House of Harmony and Vengeance".
Second leads Natalie Tong and Kenny Wong have also appeared frequently as has Florence Kwok.

Unlike last year we've had a break from Kate Tsui for 6 months now, not including her guest star appearance in Gloves Come off. Only having "Highs and Lows" and "Seasons of Love" (yet to be produced) we won't get to see her much this year!

As a random note:
Is it me or does it seem that Moses Chan is in half of the series that Kenny Wong is in: "Heaven and Earth", "4 in Love", "Master of Play", and from previous years, "Dance of Passion", "The Gentle Crackdown", "War and Beauty", and probably more I can't think of!
Also expecting Charmaine to drop of the list next year :(