HARD FATE

Cast: Damian Lau Chung Yan as Leung Pak Yin (Yin Gor)
Flora Chan Wai San as Mok Hei Yee (Tiffany)
Kevin Cheng as Leung Ka Ming
Niki Chow Lai Kei as Leung Wing Si (Ceci)
Stephen Au-Yeung as Leung Pak Kit
Maggie Siu Mei Kei as Kwan (Ivy)
Plot Summary
Yin Gor is the CEO-owner of Yuk Lung Hin, a successful company specializing in jade. Ivy has stood by his side for many years in the company and secretly loves Yin Gor. But Yin Gor only has eyes for Tiffany, a woman twenty years his junior working at Yuk Lung Hin as a jewelery designer. Younger brother Kit returns to the company after faking remorse, and tarnishes the company name with jealous Ivy's help. He is kicked out although Ivy's role is never discovered.
Although he comes off as a morally upright, dignified and accomplished man, Yin Gor has a deep dark secret. More than twenty years ago he was a drug smuggler and sacrificed good friend Jung (father to Ka Ming) to Mainland Chinese authorities. Out of remorse, Yin Gor sponsored the orphaned Ka Ming, and later on taught him the ins and out of the jade business. Yin Gor and Tiffany enjoyed a wonderful relationship until another one of Yin Gor's dark secrets were exposed. More than two decades ago, his drug smuggler leader forced him to marry his daughter and together they had Ceci and thus Tiffany was a third party in the relationship. Tiffany forgives Yin Gor, and Ceci and Ka Ming eventually start dating. Then in a pivotal plot turn, Ceci's mom returns, and all hell breaks loose.
Ceci's mom had been suffering from mental illness for a few years, and basically goes ballistic when she discovers Yin Gor's infedelity. The estranged couple meet atop a building, and both fall. Ceci's mom dies, while Yin Gor forgets everything that happened. That is... until he remembers. He is temporarily traumatized when he remembers that he purposely let go of Ceci's mom, rendering him a murderer. Predictably, he hides this from the cops and their hypnosis specialists, Ceci, Ka Ming, and most importantly Tiffany. Yin Gor bribes and beats up a witness into fear, while Ceci starts suspecting her father after reading her mother's diary.
After Ceci and Ka Ming track down the witness, Yin Gor is sent to court. He turns the table around on the witness stand, accusing his daughter of perjury and secretly scheming to swallow everything her mother and grandfather left (which was shared between Yin Gor and Ceci). Ceci is heartbroken while Ka Ming is furious, and Yin Gor is found not guilty. And all along this little cat and mouse game, Tiffany (possibly the dumbest character in 2004's TVB) blindly believes her beloved Yin Gor. Until Yuk Lung Hin's reputation is sunk due to Yin Gor's court debacle, and his brother Pak Kit returns to 'help' the business.
In a desperate attempt to save the company, Yin Gor agrees to smuggle drugs with Kit. Of course, things are not so simple. To gain revenge against his traitor brother, Yin Gor cooperates with Shanghai authorities to capture Kit. Death by execution is the punishment for drug smugglers in Mainland China, a fact that is well known to Yin Gor who basically pushed his brother to death. He also doesn't inform Kit that he has a son by Ivy such that he can acquire Kit's estate, a fact discovered by Tiffany when cleaning Yin Gor's desk.
Tiffany then goes into hiding while leaving baby daughter Tung Tung with Ceci, but of course the now deranged Yin Gor tracks them down. Ceci ends up in a coma when trying to chase her dad and getting hit by a car. Yin Gor abducts Tung Tung and hides her from Tiffany, promising her return if Tiffany returns to his side. When he discovers that Tiffany has fallen out of love with him and realizes all his misdeeds and role in Ceci's coma, he commits suicide, leaving Tung Tung with Tiffany. Ka Ming refuses to postpone his wedding to Ceci, and still cleans her room daily hoping she will wake up.
Fast forward 6 years. Tiffany works with her father's jade business, and Ka Ming's jade company has become even more successful than Yuk Lung Hin. Ceci has passed away, and Ka Ming refuses to meet another.
Evaluation of Cast and Characters
Damian Lau as Leung Pak Yin A predictably great performance as the good-gone-bad man. Though nowhere did he have the presence he had in "The Point of No Return", Damian Lau still delivers the best acting of this series. He is convincingly motivated as the morally upright and ambitious Yuk Lung Hin boss and wonderfully believable as the desperate, deranged, almost maniacal Yin Gor. Every facial expression and line delivered flawlessly, Damian Lau is definitely an actor whom you forget is actually acting. Like Chun Pui, Francis Ng, Sheren Tang, Kong Wah, he is an actor who becomes the character he is playing. Many can learn from this veteran. Even his acting within acting (as in the court scene) is brilliant. I also thought he had some creepy romantic chemistry with Flora Chan, which skeeved me out a little. But he looks too old, worn out, and even haggard in this series. [Funn - Leung Pak Yin is supposed to be 50 years old in the series]
So the question about his character, Leung Pak Yin: Good guy or bad guy? I would say neither. I would say selfish guy. Unbelievably selfish to the point of heartlessness. Sacrifices his good friend, leads his own brother to death for money, kidnaps his own daughter, causes the eventual death of his other daughter, never admitting guilt to his wrongdoings, etc. Of course in classic TVB style he is redeemed in the eyes of the audience when he repents and throws himself off a building. Or maybe he is psychotic, someone who can't distinguish right from wrong, at least for part of the series when he believes he is actually protecting Tiffany even if it means murder.
Flora Chan as Tiffany Playing nearly 15 years younger than her actual age, Flora gives the worst performance of the series. She also needs a haircut and a fashion stylist. Note to Flora: Please stick to the strong career-woman type roles that define you as an actress. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Flora Chan is both unconvincing and boring in any other role. She comes off as both stupid and pathetic in these roles, and that's not just because of her character Tiffany. Flora also starred in some dinky little TVB series called "Triumph in the Skies", where she also showed that she just doesn't act well with these characters, they don't fit her. My favourite performance to date from Flora is still her Annie from "Healing Hands". She was protrayed as a chic professional and yet compassionate and romantic in her love for Henry, yet still opinionated and superindependent.. That is the Flora I like and also the Flora that is a good actress. She is not meant to be a tear-jerker, and especially not the kind in this series where she cries desperately. She is the ugliest crier in TVB, second only to perhaps Gigi Lai. I like the strong Flora, not the wimp waif dumb wife Flora. I will take Flora as the strong career-woman character one million times rather than the 'dumb blonde' character even once. With that said, her acting in this series is really, really bad, superimposed by my overwhelming hatred for her character's stupidity.
Kevin Cheng as Ka Ming Smoking hot and the best performance I've seen from this actor, which is not saying much considering my opinion of his past performances leaving much to be desired. He was vapid in "Burning Flame II", comic but unengaging in "Slim Chances", and almost irrelevant in "The Point of No Return". Here he takes on the most likeable character of the series, a man with integrity, intelligence, and compassion, yet with a believable temper. Kevin still needs improvement in the dramatic scenes, he needs more, more, more! He needs to pay more attention and really put himself in the shoes of his character during these dramatic scenes. With that said, I felt he did a nice job as Ka Ming in general and made an adorable couple with Niki Chow.
Niki Chow as Ceci I like her. She is vibrant but not overbearing, chipper but not annoyingly so, and cute without trying to be, even huggably cute despite her model-ish height. The only other time I've seen Niki is the TV version of "Feel 100%" where she played Cherry, where she was funny but not memorable. However, her Ceci is very cute, very fresh with lots of energy. I love her Ceci. And despite the fact that she is a spoiled brat at heart, Niki Chow made her a likeable character, second only to Ka Ming. She would do very well in romantic comedy roles, the expressions on her face whenever Ka Ming did something nice for her were absolutely hilarious yet very very real. However, she really needs to work on the dramatic scenes - I see her potential but like Kevin Cheng she needs to put herself in the shoes of her character. But she and Kevin Cheng are just too gosh-darn-cute in this series, I love them to bits as a couple.
Other Performances Mary Hon was terrific as the mentally deranged wife to Yin Gor. Very scary, very intimidating, and the look in her eyes almost breathed creepiness. Great performance. Stephen Au-Yeung overdid the evil part a bit but in general was ok. Maggie Siu was also ok but I find her boring in here, and Lo Hoi Pang delivered charismatically in his minor role as Ka Ming's future mentor. Michael Tong was predictably dull, while Michelle Yip gave what I felt was her best performance to date, which says much because I've never thought Michelle could act, despite watching basically every series she's been in.
Other Comments (Spoilers!) The theme song is catchy but I wish they took out the lyrics, it ruined the mood. The drawings of the jade jewelery were beautiful. Why did the writers kill off Ceci?! She and Ka Ming made such a wonderful couple to watch. I would rather have the writers kill off Tung Tung instead with Yin Gor, at least to render some kind of poetic justice for Tiffany's stupidity.
PS I love this serie very much, it's very how Niki died, but Niki and Kevin were so cute, and I do not own this review.

GET UNSTUCK IN TIME

CAST:
Roger Kwok
Hui Siu Hung
Flora Chan
Kiki Sheung
Cherie Kong
Patrick Tang
Shek Sau
Matt Yeung

PLOT
This story starts off with Roger doing his work as a police officer and solving cases. At the start he bumps into Flora and they end up disliking each other because she annoys him very much. He doesn't like that she's always reminding him of his father. This is because he thinks that before he died, his father cheated on his mother by going to a brothel. As time passes, Flora and Roger end up being friends. He respects that she's so positive even though she's in a wheelchair. Also Roger found out that his father's old phone is able to call back to his father's time. In the present time, his father is not alive, so Roger is very happy to have conversations with his father. He also ends up caring for him again because he learns to forgive him. Roger's father helps him solve cases from years ago by putting evidence into a can underneath a tree.
After quite some time, Roger and Flora end up falling in love with each other, but Flora's sister has feelings for Roger. This causes a bit of a problem, but it eventually dies out because Flora's sister ends up falling for a fellow police officer on the force too. Flora's sister and her boyfriend help pair Flora and Roger together. Flora and Roger are very happy together, but one night an incident at the ball leaves Flora feeling very awkward towards Roger. She claims that they cannot be together because she is in a wheelchair and that they do not match. This brings an end to their relationship.
One day Roger decides to call back in time and tell his father to save Flora from getting hit by a car. His father doesn't know that Roger is doing this for his own benefit because Roger actually knows that if Flora doesn't need to sit in a wheelchair, things would be better between them. This ends up in a terrible mess because the present is changed very badly. Apparently Flora is now, in the present, a triad chief's god daughter. Even worse, Roger ends up being Flora's sister's boyfriend! This astonishes him so much and he is very confused so he tells his father that he tricked him into changing the past. Will Flora and Roger end up being together? Will Roger fix back the present?
Comments:
Storyline - I think that this series' storyline is quite interesting at first. But when Roger ends up making the present a mess by getting his father to change the past, it dragged on and made the series seem really boring. The start was really good but it ended up terrible because of the sudden change which seem to drag the series.
Actors and Actresses:
Roger Kwok: Roger was terrific in this series! He was very good and he seemed very much like a police officer, which fitted his role. He did his expressions realistically, but later on his expressions seemed so unrealistic. This is because of the fact that he was once a great police officer who obeyed the law, but then he changed into someone everyone felt so sorry for, someone who couldn't stand up for his own beliefs. I felt like he wasn't a police officer anymore. This sudden change of personality gave Roger a good chance to put in some fantastic acting, but it actually made the storyline much worse.
Flora Chan: Flora was quite bad in this series. This was because her personality was much too happy and unrealistic. Even though she was in a wheelchair, she was confident enough to buy fancy shoes. In real life, someone wouldn't be that cheerful about buying shoes! Flora was too much of the happy and go-lucky type and it was just terrible. She was in a wheelchair and this type of personality for her role did not match. She was not good at acting like the triad chief's god daughter either. It didn't seem like the type of role for her, so it seemed very strange.
Overall: Overall this was an ok series. Roger was very good at acting and his personality in this series was very likeable and this gave the series a good actor to begin with. Flora is quite good, but you may find her character quite unrealistic. I recommend it to those of you who love action type movies or those who are Roger fans! This is because he's in a different type of role from 'Square Pegs', giving him a new character to explore so you won't get dull of him so fast.
PS I do not own this review.

REACHING OUT

Episodes:

50

Cast:

Gordon Lam as Dai Fook Sung/Dai Ah Gor

Benny Chan as Lau Yee Sok

Nicola Cheung as Ko Wei Ting/Ninth Sister

Kenix Kwok as Yuk Hiu Guan/Yuk Hiu Hga/Spider Girl

Michelle Yip as Wun Shuet Yee/Jess

Mai Shuet as Chun Kiu

Ha Yue as Lau Lik

Sammul Chan as Kok Kai Bong/Ken

This is one series that I fell in love with. All the ups and downs in life can be found in here. People with dreams to fulfill, people who are orphans, people who are greedy and so on. The title means "beautiful life" in Chinese. It seems to me that life is beautiful, it just depends on the way you see things.
Gordon plays the "number one good guy" Dai Fook Sung or as close people call him "Dai Ah Gor" which means "Big Brother". He's an orphan who loves helping out people, especially homeless people who live under the bridges. He brings food and water to them each day on his bike. He lives with one lazy slut Yee Sok(played by Benny Chan) and Yee Sok's father Lau Lik (played by Ha Yue) whom Yee Sok refuses to admit that he's his father. The two "brothers" are like guardians to Ninth Sister or Ko Wei Ting (played by Nicola Cheung). They grew up together in an orphanage.
Fook Sung meets Yee Sok's so-called his girl, Jess(Michelle Yip). Jess is also an orphan but she lives with her annoying aunt and cousin. She may seem to do things a little differently than Fook Sung but she's actually really nice. She uses her beauty to attract more customers and get things done, but she doesn't like any of them. She fell for the good guy Fook Sung instead of Yee Sok who thought she liked him. She and Fook Sung were together only for a while.
Then Ken (played by Sammul Chan) comes into the picture. Ken's your average kind of guy but he's rich and maybe spoiled. His real mother Kiu(Mai Shuet) was always trying to find him, but when he found out that she was his mother, he couldn't accept it. As for relationships, he won Jess's heart and he stepped right in the middle of Jess and Fook Sung. I'm glad he did, otherwise the most important woman in Fook Sung's life wouldn't get a chance to show herself.
Who is it anyway? Of course it's Spider Girl played by Kenix Kwok! She's the stubborn type who is always against Fook Sung because she's trying to prove to her sister, Hiu Nga, that Fook Sung isn't who he really is. She later falls in love with Fook Sung but left him because she has the same liver disease that her sister died from.
Yee Sok begins to notice Ninth Sister, whom he has known for a long time. However, because of the fact that they used to act like brother and sister, she isn't able to accept him. Typical. But in the end, they become more than the brother and sister relationship.
Who ends up with whom? Take a guess! Obviously it would be the following: Fook Sung with Spider Girl (he donated some of his liver to her. How nice.) Yee Sok with Ninth Sister. Ken with Jess.
Favorite Female Character: I would love to be Spider Girl. It's because I'm 100% stubborn like her and maybe very spicy sometimes. She's always doing cruel things, which I would do but I don't. On the outside, she's really tough but actually she's really kind.
Favorite Male Character: If my favorite female character is Spider Girl, then who's the male? Of course it's Fook Sung. I wanted to watch this series because of him. He's so nice in a way that it makes you feel that there are nice people in this crazy world.
Some Good Characters: Jess was fine. I like Michelle as an actress but I didn't like her character as Jess. I like Ho Hei in "Street Fighters" but not Jess.
Ninth Sister? She was okay. Nicola Cheung is always being said that she has tiny eyes and that she's trying to make them look bigger. I don't care about that. She's really a cute person and she can act (better than Anne Heung).
Yee Sok? Ah ha, he's the guy, which girls would love, right? For me, no. I rather stick to Fook Sung's type. But I have to admit that I really liked Yee Sok, due to the fact that he's the one who brings laughter. You have to say that Benny is a good actor. I've seen him as other characters and so far, I like this one the most.
Other Comments: If you haven't seen this series yet, go rent it or whatever! You just have to see it. Why? I'll tell you why. Excellent perfomances from Mai Shuet and Ha Yue. Excellent cast! Better storyline than others. It has the true meaning of life. Give orphans more hope. So much more!!!

PS I do not own this review.

A HERBALIST AFFAIR

Episodes: 20
Cast:

Roger Kwok - Cheung Yee Fai (Ah Fai)

Charmaine Sheh - Ruby Ng Sin Yu (Ah Bee)

Melissa Ng - Geung Sum Yuet
Derek Lee - Kuk Yat Siu

Eileen Yiu - Fung Gao (Gao Gao)

Shuet Lei - Cheung Dai San

Ko Hung - Cheung Wan On

Lo Yuen Yan - Kuk Li Sa

Wu Fung - Cheung Si Sang

Wong Wai - Geung Tiet To

Yu Yeung - Ng Sing

Mark Kwok - Chung Jing Lung

Chan Kwok Bong - Chow Chi Wah

PLOT

Under the backdrop of a modern glitzy Shanghai cosmopolitan and in the guise of the "westernization" and commercialization of Chinese medicine, "An Herbalist Affair" is a warm light-hearted family centered drama with romantic and comedic plot elements that we have seen many times before. There is the suspicious smart up-and-coming salesman carefully keeping tabs on his sassy secretary/assistant assigned to him who just turns out to be the only daughter of the big boss and owner of the company of he's employed. Later, their relationship blossoms into an ill-fated "poor boy rich girl" romance. On another front, two young men from different walks in life and culture meet by chance and become the best of friends only to discover that they are truly brothers sharing the same father. We have a career-minded professional doctor who needs some serious defrosting. And in the course of her reconnection to the human spirit and heart, the doctor also falls in love with the salesman. Finally, an idealistic gullible young chef (the younger brother) who is kind, gentle and good in every way falls for a fun-loving wild child dancer. Will he be lead astray by her wicked influences, or instead, become the gallant knight who rescues her back from the dark side? Before we dig deeper into the story, let's get a rundown of the principle characters first.

Roger as Ah Fai plays a striving ambitious salesperson and department head of Bo Wor Medicine Company, a leading distributor of Chinese herbal remedies and pills in Hong Kong. He jets back and forth from Hong Kong to Shanghai trying to promote the company's products while at the same time uses his contacts and the company's resources to do some peddling and selling of other products to make some money of his own on the side. His best friend, Chi Wah (Chan Kwok Bong), who also works for the company is part of this underground operation as well. Ah Fai starts out as a ruthless and driven Hong Konger whose only desire is to make money. Cynical and opinionated, he has a lethal tongue with a reputation of running his office assistants so ragged that they always wound up quitting on him in a month's time or so. However beneath all the roughness, Ah Fai is a proud but caring individual who does not shy away from responsibilities, especially towards his family. When his grandfather, Cheung Si Sang, gets a stroke and falls into a coma, Ah Fai drops everything and goes on a frantic search for a mystery woman in Shanghai in order to fulfill his grandfather's dying wish.
Charmaine as Ah Bee is a bright and optimistic designer who also happens to be the only daughter of a rich and powerful businessman, Ng Sing, the owner of Bo Wor. Having just returned from her fashion studies abroad, she makes a bet with her daddy to see how long she could hold a steady job in their family company. This leads her to become Ah Fai's secretary/assistant. At first, Ah Bee and Ah Fai don't hit it off. Ah Fai gives her the run-around and sends her off on pointless errands to buy this or that snack. It's his way of making sure that she doesn't discover his side business since he believes she's a company spy initially. However, Ah Bee's cheerful attitude, quick wits, and willingness to help others (him especially) soon win him over. A romance between the two develops during their search for the mystery woman in Shanghai. Yet, things change quickly when they head back to Hong Kong and Ah Fai gets fired from his job when his side operation comes to light. He also finds out Ah Bee's true identity and accuses her of snitching on him. Strung out to dry, Ah Fai opens his own company. The two love birds do settle their differences, and Ah Bee goes against her father's wishes to help Ah Fai out both financially and physically. Given their class differences and the ill will Ah Bee's father has against the Cheung family (Ng Sing blames Ah Fai's grandfather - a former famous Chinese doctor - for his wife's death when he refused to treat her terminal kidney problems with Chinese herbal medicine), their match never turns into fruition. Ng Sing plots to break them apart by using every means possible - threats, guilt, even money. Finally, when Ah Fai's older sister runs into huge gambling debts of over $3 million HK, Ah Fai chooses to sacrifice their love in order to borrow the huge sum of money from Ah Bee's father.
On the other front in Shanghai, we meet a newcomer to the small screen Lee Ho Lum as Kuk Yat Siu, who plays the perfect example of a filial son - talented in cooking, helpful to others without wanting anything in return, mild-mannered, and full of starry-eyed ideals. As a top chef of a grand Shanghai hotel that Ah Fai was staying during his many business trips there, the two meet when Yat Siu comes out from his kitchen to take away the dish from a very hungry Ah Fai because it did not meet up to Yat Siu's exacting standards. Through a series of chance encounters, the two eventually click, and Ah Fai becomes Yat Siu's first Cantonese speaking friend. Even though Yat Siu is a native Shanghainese, he knows how to speak both dialects, Mandarin and Cantonese fluently since he had been raised by his widowed mother who originally came from Hong Kong. When he learns of Ah Fai's moving quest to fulfill his sick grandfather's last wish, he goes all out to help Ah Fai by rounding up his network of friends and knocking from door to door asking for this mystery lady. As it turns out, they did not need to look very far. In fact, it is Yat Siu's mother who they should be searching for all along.
Years ago, Ah Fai's father, Cheung Wan On, had an illicit affair with Li Sa in which she wound up pregnant with Yat Siu. The father being a "little" man always afraid of confronting issues did nothing. Yet the grandfather, having found out about it, was sympathetic to her plight. He never told anyone the secret because he did not want to break up his son's family. He tried helping Li Sa out when she left for Shanghai, but eventually lost touch with her. This becomes a lingering regret of the grandfather's because he never did more for her and the unborn child.
Kuk Li Sa from the start realizes that "she" is the one Ah Fai was sent to find, but she had changed her name and had long moved out of the neighborhood that they were searching. With her relatively happy and stable life as the head of her own tea restaurant and ill feelings toward the irresponsible man that left her, she hides the truth from the two brothers. In one of the series most comedic moments, Ah Fai who Yat Siu has just invited to stay overnight in their Shanghai flat accidentally knocks over the broken picture plate of Yat Siu's father. As the two young men work to piece the plate back, Ah Fai offhandedly remarks how familiar the eyes were, not realizing that it was actually an old picture of his own father. In duress, Li Sa scolds them frantically to not touch her things, especially her dead husband. Up until that point, Li Sa had always come across as a very nice and soft-spoken mother figure who never raised her voice, so everyone is taken by surprise at her odd reaction. In the end, Yat Siu does find out her secret and goes to Hong Kong to visit the other family he never got to know.
Also from Shanghai is Melissa Ng's character, Geung Sum Yuet, who is a smart, career-oriented medical doctor at one of Shanghai's top hospitals. She has duel MD's in both Western and Chinese Medicine and uses both types of disciplines when treating her patients. Besides being a doctor, she also finds time to teach Chinese Medicine at the Shanghai University and help her father, Geung Tiet To, a renowned doctor of Chinese medicine, in his study and research the scientific and medical properties of well-known Chinese herbal plants. Their goal is to "Westernize" these remedies into a pill form and try to bring all aspects of Chinese medicine into the 21st century. She is articulate, disciplined and hardworking, and tries very hard to meet her father's high expectations. Geung Tiet To and Kuk Li Sa are good friends and sworn siblings. Therefore, Sum Yuet and Yat Siu also grew up together and treat one another like close siblings.
Living under the same roof as Yat Siu and Li Sa since her father's always away on medical conferences, she is very close to all the action brewing between Yat Siu, Ah Fai and his family, and Ah Bee. She plays a hand in getting her father to help Ah Fai's grandfather out through the use of alternative Chinese medicine in his recovery from his stroke. Also, when Ah Fai needed a marketable product for his upstart company, Sum Yuet tries hard to persuade her father, yet again, to let Ah Fai be the distributor of her father's research and medicinal products. Geung Tiet To agrees but only on one condition - that Ah Fai go to Shanghai University to enroll and pass a basic course in Chinese medicine that's offered to first year Chinese medical students. Ah Fai in his desperation to rescue his floundering company and pay back the loan he owed to Ng Sing does take up the challenge. As luck would have it, Yuet Sum becomes his professor there. As his relationship with Ah Bee draws to a close due to familial pressure, another possible love interest for Ah Bee, and Ah Fai's pride of not turning into a worthless boyfriend living off from his rich girlfriend's money, a small spark of chemistry ignites between Ah Fai and Sum Yuet. From the start, the two always had been at each other's throat. But time and close quarters makes them reassess their former opinions of each another that later grows to mutual appreciation, respect, and even love.
How this brewing love triangle will end between Ah Bee, Ah Fai and Sum Yuet is one of the climaxes in this series that would spoil all the fun if revealed. As for what happens to Yat Siu and his fun-loving wild dancer, Gao Gao, they do get together in the end after too many snide mumblings and intervention by Yat Siu's father (who brands Gao Gao as the evil spider spirit that lures his pure honest monk of a son into her seductive web cave, an allusion to Tong Sam Jong in Journey to the West) and a climatic hijacked bus chase sequence through the major streets of Shanghai metropolis.

Personal Comments:
The Chinese title of this series, "Ching Hien Bak Zhi Gwei" roughly translates to the love and relationships contained inside the hundred of wooden apothecary drawers that line the back wall of a Chinese herbal shop. Each drawer is reserved for a specific dried herb, and in some ways, every main character (and even some of the minor ones) is given an opportunity to shine in this light but richly layered dramedy (drama + comedy).
Playing against type, Roger trades in his normally straight laced image for a rougher look with mussed-up dyed hair and long side burns that reminded me of Dai Tao Mun (Gallen Lo) in "Secrets of the Heart". It took me about a chapter or two to buy into this new look and bossy attitude, but like Ah Bee and Sum Yuet, I too, became touched by Ah Fai's good intentions and sincerity towards those he loves.
As for Charmaine, her portrayal of Ah Bee is the most natural I've ever seen of her. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Ah Bee is familiar territory for Charmaine since it's another incarnation of the rich pampered heir of a medicinal empire she played in "Seven Sisters". Or it could be that with given enough practice, she's finally picking up on the art of how to breathe life into a character. Whatever it is she's pretty convincing in showing all sides of her character from the cute to the ugly.
Melissa also does a bang-up job playing the cold but believable doctor from Shanghai who's well versed in Chinese and Western medicine. I was impressed by her Mandarin and English speaking skills when she conducted all her classes in Mandarin and even gave an interview in English that explained the possibilities of alternative medicine to the foreign press.
As for the newcomer Lee Ho Lum, he turns in a fairly decent debut performance. He does not have the picture perfect face nor the muscular physique to be a breakout hit like Louis Koo and Raymond Lam, but he's natural in front of the camera and exhibits some good comedic timing interacting with the veteran actors. In addition, he and Ying Ying have enough chemistry that made their romantic development believable.
Finally, a special mention must be made for all wonderful performances put in by the supporting cast, especially Wu Fung, Lo Yuen Yun, Ko Hung, Wong Wai and Chan Kwok Bong. Without these characters and their special quirks and antics, this series would probably be not as enjoyable or amusing as it turned out.
Besides the acting, another element that makes "An Herbalist Affair" worth watching is the spectacular Shanghai scenery in which the story plays out. From the modern night-time skyline to the quaint rural back villages to Shanghai's many bridges - from wide heavy traffic metal wonders over Wong Bo Kwong (Yellow River) or the old stone bridges that connect a running stream or canal together, there are glimpses of a grandiose city that knew how to blend its old architecture with and the new and did it well. Much research and investment has been done to scout out and shoot such great on-location scenes. And it gives this series a refreshing context despite the over-use of familiar plot devices and storylines. All in all, while "An Herbalist Affair" will not turn any viewer into an expert on Chinese herbal remedies, it does leave a satisfactory taste in the mouth for its mild (no major blowups nor all-out evil antagonist who kills everyone off lurking in here) but vastly warm and charming tale of one happy "herbal" family.
PS I do not own this review.

UPS AND DOWNS IN THE SEA OF LOVE

This is a refreshing series from TVB that has finally screwed its nail in the correct place with its script-writing and casting choices. The cast was delightfully likeable and generally delivered wonderful performances. Much of the setting is on a love cruise boat which provides many of the metaphors during the story, e.g. the "stormy seas of love." The only drawback that prevents this series from receiving five stars is that the plot loses itself, becomes nonsensical, and terminates carelessly with Yama and Jason tying the knot and without giving other characters a more suitable resolution.
Joyce Tang is one fine actress. She has proven capable of morphing herself into various characters in many different costume and modern TVB series. Her character "Ah Din" in this series is rather complex with hidden feelings and thoughts. She is as rebellious and brash as she is lovable and soft-hearted. As she develops, she is actually the true heroine of this whole operation. I think she upstages Nick Cheung and Maggie Cheung. She truly deserves true love towards the end, but I suppose TVB thought it was fine to throw Joyce, "just another supporting actress," into the Spinster's Bin. I guess TVB assumed that viewers want to see Yama and Jason together no matter how costly it is. When "Ah Din" was walking down the aisle to marry Jason and he suddenly turned to Yama to profess his love for her, my mother, a disgruntled viewer, said, "What, are they treating Joyce like an animal?" Since TVB enjoys the concept of "you reap what you sow", why did they just let "Ah Din" sacrifice needlessly and find no happiness? In any case this is one of the "nonsensical" endings.
One aspect of this series I really enjoyed was the language and the clever wordplay. The language is filled with contemporary Hong Kong colloquialisms as well as speech that suits the respective characters' level of education. For example, NG is partially a scholar, a bartender, an erotica novelist, a slacker, and generally an educated man. His language is often hilarious, lying somewhere between the crass and refined.
Nick Cheung, though I never liked him, definitely found my appreciation this time around. His facial expressions and the insinuating tone in his voice made his presence very smug and commanding of attention. His performance kept the series together. At times the direction of the script was pathetic, but Nick's "Jason" remained convincing - he was funny, melodramatic, light-hearted, and angry when the script demanded it.
Maggie Cheung's role "Yama" was nicely performed. Yama was also appropriately evil and cunning when she needed to be, yet she was still funny and likeable. As she was the nice, attractive girl-next-door, it was refreshing to see her character become wicked. Then she became caring and nice once again, and needless to say, the show's over when people become nice.
The divorce, the fight for alimony, and the plot to get Yama a husband were the funniest parts of the series.
It was fun to see a series that begins a love story by introducting the misunderstandings, the traumas and the petty vendettas of two former lovers in such a light-hearted and funny manner. Precisely because these are not funny issues, the story was able to distance itself from the melodrama and focus on the idiosyncrasies of lovers which are otherwise comical. After all the series that portray love as a development into happily ever-after, at least this series tries not to be too mainstream with its storyline.
As foils for the plot, the Tarot and Love Boat themes were too much. We get the point. We do not need metaphors slammed unto our heads like bricks. I hope that TVB will learn how to be more subtle and let the viewers figure out some of the plot and make their own connections.
The first half of the series is rather predictable as many TVB series are. But when Lau Wah appears with his own dark agenda, the entire story twists and becomes a bit more engaging. The acting of Lau Wah was passable but in synch with the comedic purpose of the series. Towards the end Lau Wah's mere appearance frustrated me so much that I wanted him caught red-handed. Of course, in TVB series the wrong-doers are always caught red-handed and appropriate punishment ensues, but Lau Wah's retribution does not happen with the climax one might like to see. Lau Wah's end is not presented satisfactorily at all, so this is one of the negative aspects of the series' hasty ending.
If you want to forget yourself and actually laugh out loud, this is it.
PS I do not own this review.

CONDOR HEROES 95

I've watched three versions of Than Dieu Hiep Lu (Return of the Condor Heroes), TVB 84, TVB 95, and TCS 98, and in my opinion the TVB 95 version starring Louis Koo and Carmen Lee is the best version. The performances of the two leading actors were exceptional so it was no surprise that this serial propelled both their careers. Although the 84 serial still remains the most popular version of RoCH, popularity does not mean that it's necessarily the better version. I thought the 84 version was average at best and have many gripes about it, but I'll save that for another review. Since many people are already familiar with the story, I won't do a summary. I wouldn't want to spoil the story for those few who haven't read or seen it yet anyway.
I personally believe that Carmen Lee played the role of Tieu Long Nu exactly as she is represented in the novel. Tieu Long Nu and Hoang Dung from Legend of the Condor Heroes are arguably two of the harder Jin Yong female characters to portray for an actor because there are many facets to their characters. Tieu Long Nu is cold, aloof, unfeeling yet there is a certain innocence and vulnerability in her character. This was evident in her reluctance to leave the mountain with Duong Qua (Yeung Gor) and how she was easily tricked and taken advantage of by many of the characters in the story. Tieu Long Nu starts out as a very cold and unfeeling person but she gradually warms up to Duong Qua and falls completely in love with him. It's important to remember that she is still a very unfeeling person to everyone else except Duong Qua. I've seen other adaptations where Tieu Long Nu was portrayed as nice and kind-hearted, something that annoys me because that is not how she is portrayed in the novel. Because Carmen did such a great job of portraying Tieu Long Nu's cold and unfeeling nature, many criticized her performance for it. I don't think many of these critics ever read the novel. Overall, Carmen's portrayal of Tieu Long Nu was accurate and true to the novel and in my opinion her portrayal is the best so far.
The other main character in the story is Duong Qua (Yeung Gor), another difficult Jin Yong character to portray because of his many traits. At first I didn't like Louis's portrayal of Duong Qua because he didn't look like the Duong Qua I had pictured from reading the novel. Duong Qua is mischievous, cunning, handsome, emotional, and has somewhat of a devil-may-care attitude. What I mean by that is he will do whatever he feels is right not caring what others may think of him. Louis didn't strike me as handsome and I think he could have done a better job portraying Duong Qua's mischievous side. However as the series progressed, I gradually accepted him as Duong Qua. The chemistry he had with Carman was great. You really believed that they were in love and felt bad each time they separated.
The performances of the supporting cast was good, although I thought the supporting cast of the 84 version was better overall. Gigi Fu was absolutely great as Quach Phu (Kwok Fu). I really developed a hatred for her character, which should be the case because Quach Phu is truly a despicable person. Out of the many villains who are out to get Duong Qua in the story, she is the one that does the most harm to him. She also feels no remorse for her actions until the end of the story, despite Duong Qua saving her life on numerous occasions.
Now that I've mentioned all the good aspects of the serial, it's time to discuss some problems I had with it. My number one complaint is the fight choreography. It's terrible. Although there were some decent fight scenes throughout the series, the majority of them were cheesy and looked really awful. Two that come to mind are the first fight Duong Qua and Tieu Long Nu had with golden wheel monk and Duong Qua's duel with Chau Ba Thong later in the serial. It's obvious that this serial was a low budget production. The costumes were dull, background sets looked really fake, what little special effects in the serial looked corny, and the scenery was uninteresting. You just had to look at the giant condor to see proof of how low budget this serial was. It looks no better than the one in the 84 version, which I just happen to believe looked better. I guess TVB didn't want to invest that much money into this production because it is based on a popular Jin Yong story and people will want to see it no matter what.
Than Dieu Hiep Lu is my favorite Jin Yong story and I've watched every version that has come out in the last 20 years except for the Taiwan version. I heard that the director of that version really twisted the story around. I believe this version, despite its flaws, is the best. The main reason for this is the performance of the two leading actors. They had great chemistry together and accurately portrayed their characters. I know the entire story from beginning to end yet I was never bored for a moment watching this series. I was captivated by this series from start to finish. Carmen Lee and Louis Koo did an excellent job of getting the audience to sympathize with the plight of their characters. Overall, I'd say this was one of the best TVB ancient serial of the 90s.
PS I do not own this review.

MATTER OF CUSTOMS

Cast: Wong Hei as Lam Chi Kwong Jessica Hester Hsuan as Vung Moon Fun Liza Wong as Lui Fok Ming/Ah Ming Danny Lee as Tao Ling Shan Mak Cheung Ching as Lee Zhi Sek Jade Leung as Bao Gei Heurng Fiona Leung as Queenie/Siu Yuk Gwai William Cho as Lam Chi Kit Joyce Tang as Wan Pui Ling Melissa Ng as Bao Gei Kwun Shirley Cheung as Gung Siu Yao
Summary: (Warning! Spoilers!)
At the beginning, there are two customs teams. One was led by Liza and her co-workers were Jade, Fiona, Mak, and some other cast. They are working together to check a ship out because they believed it contained illegal gasoline. They were correct and one of the outlaws threatened to light his cigarette lighter, which would cause everyone on the ship to die if it exploded with the gas. However, Liza kicked up a plastic cloth in the air, making the outlaw fall and he was caught. After returning to their workplace, she congratulated the team for their great performance and told them she had to go to Macau for a conference. When she was on the verge of returning to Hong Kong, she saw Jessica's ability of working with a suspect well, so she decides to transfer Jessica to her team. (Sidenote, Liza is Jessica's aunt and Liza is Jessica's role model.)
Jessica is now transferred into Liza's custom department. She also planned to move back to Hong Kong, and surprisingly enough, her family's neighbor is Wong Hei and his dad. His dad is also the president of the apartment building and when Wong Hei's dad and Jessica's mom met, they didn't get along. Wong Hei kind of gave Jessica the cold shoulder when she saw that his dad got a cut on his finger and gave him a bandaid. When Jessica arrived at her new workplace, she finds out that Wong Hei is also transferred there as the captain. He used to be a CID, but he shot and killed a man and couldn't take the guilt, so he quits. This is also the reason why he's pretty much a loner.
After the first case, Liza talked to Wong Hei that he should be more of a team player than a loner, comparing him to coffee, because he only drinks black. During the next case, he was nicer. Jessica and Fiona were chasing a suspect who jabbed Jessica with a needle. The suspect has AIDS. So she took a break from work and stayed at the hospital to test if she was infected. Everyone, including her family and Liza's family, was trying to make her feel better telling her she won't get AIDS. She made herself look strong and confident in front of them, until they leave. She ran outside the hospital and cried, Wong Hei saw this and tried to comfort her. He took her swimming, saying it will reduce stress--it worked. When they got the test results, Jessica and Wong Hei hugged because the results of her getting AIDS was negative. So Liza had a barbecue party to celebrate and there, Liza found out that Wong Hei has changed because he was adding sugar and cream to his coffee. Jessica though, thought her aunt didn't like her because she didn't let Jessica do anything serious when they took action except putting the caution labels up so no civilians can enter.
When Jessica saw a motorcycle model in a store, she wanted to buy one for Wong Hei. She saw William Cho, (Wong Hei's brother who is with their mom after their parents separated) with the one she wants, which was the last one and he gave it to her. William seems to like Jessica very much for her personality because of this. They saw each other very soon because Wong Hei invited her to a race, which includes his bother, his mom and dad was also there. Jessica saw that Wong Hei was getting annoyed because his mom wanted to introduced him to this girl, so he and Jessica pretends to be a couple. It didn't fool William though. Well that night, Jessica and Wong Hei became an item :).
Soon, Liza transferred Jessica to a new team and she again thinks that her aunt don't want to let her do a good job. Wong Hei knows that Liza is just trying to train Jessica, but he promised not to tell. The place where Jessica was transferred, required her to work with dogs (I believed one of the dogs was her own) and one her teammates was Joyce. Mak was soon transferred there too, and he thought that Joyce like him, so he made a move to woo her. Apparently, he was mistaken. Jade (Jade Leung) was also depressed because her brother-in-law, who she has a crush on, gave her a sign that she should find someone else, so she met Mak and drank a lot of beers. The next morning they were in bed together after being drunk, and apparently they did it because she was pregnant. He agreed to married her, and at first, she didn't agree because she didn't want him to do this for the baby, but eventually she agreed and because of the marriage, they did love each other for real.
About the same time, Jessica and Wong Hei broke up because they both thought that they were too similar, they were both high-tempered for example. He later went with Shirley. She is the daughter of a dad who is gay and was killed by Wong Hei when he was a CID. She's very insecure but Wong Hei broke this part of her and loved her very much. William Cho also made a move on Jessica and they were dating too, but during their dating, his mom didn't like Jessica that much because of a misunderstanding. So she broke up with him later on and he went out with Joyce after a time. Shirley left when her mom was killed but Wong Hei still loves her, until he saw her one day using drugs. He and Jessica tried to help her, but she says she can't, she says that she has AIDS, she can't live much longer. Wong Hei stayed by her side until she died (very sad).
Later on, Jade's sister, Melissa, came back wanting to have her relationship back with Danny after she left him 8 years ago because she had a miscarriage and she can't have babies anymore. But, Liza was also in the running after all. Danny was there to help her writing Chinese calligraphy, and when both her parents passed away, he was also there. He ended up choosing Liza (married her). Melissa wasn't angry at the decision, she stayed in HK and befriends them and stays with Jade, helping her since Jade was pregnant.
The next case deals with a lot of cocaine being ship to Hong Kong. When they were investigating, Queenie was taken hostage and Wong Hei told her to trust him. She did, so she pulled away from the suspect and Wong Hei took a gun shot, and it hits Queenie. She died and the suspect died too because Jackie shot him. The whole team was really sad, especially Jade because they were best friends, but she didn't have a bad impression of Wong Hei because of this. However, Wong Hei felt the same thing when he shot Shirley's dad, so he told the chief of customs he wanted to be an underdog to investigate the case. This was private, so only that captain knows. He acted like a jerk and everything, and everyone hated him. He was with the gang, and there he finds that Danny is there too. Danny was forced because one of the people had evidence of him accidentally killed his mom when he was young (she was a whore). On the mission, Wong Hei had to hit Jessica and his dad to proved this, which was really hard for him to do this. The killer Jackie liked Wong Hei, and he knows he have to get to her, so he slept with her (Jessica saw this too, he saw Jessica at a corner and he kissed Jackie). After they slept with each other, the next morning Jackie saw that her stuff wasn't in the right place and became suspicious of Wong Hei.
As time grew, the case was almost done, and his identity was revealed. Melissa was caught because she knows their secret and Jackie tries to make Danny kill her. He couldn't do this and Wong Hei saw that she was suffering, so he killed her. Danny was caught and he went to jail. Everyone else was dead except Jackie and she told Wong Hei she's going to come and kill him and everyone around him. Everyone thinks he's just over thinking, but Jackie planted a gas that would've killed them, but luckily Wong Hei saves them in time. Wong Hei and William decides to make their parents and Liza's parent go on a vacation to get away from danger, but before they went on an airplane, Wong Hei's dad went to the bathroom for a long time. They had a feeling that he might be in danger so Wong Hei and William chased Jackie and she put their dad on a rope and dropped him, so he suffocated and died, Jackie left the scene.
The next day Wong Hei and Jessica were marrying, but Jackie caught Jessica and tied her to a pole in the sea. Wong Hei came, and he and Jackie ate all the pills in a bottle that help them shoot more accurately. They both took some shots at each other on different boats. Wong Hei saw that Jessica was almost drowning so he shot the rope off, but at the same time, Jackie shot him and he fell in the water. Jessica screamed and untied herself. Jackie was about to shoot her too, but Wong Hei popped up taking one shot and it killed Jackie. At the end, Wong Hei fell in the water too, and Jessica went searching for him as the customs are coming. (This ending wasn't necessary saying that Wong Hei died, it's just a cliffhanger, so if the series gets high ratings it will have a sequel).
PS I do not own this serie.

LEGAL ENTANGLEMENT

Plotline
Straight and to the point. Sammi is studying to become a lawyer to regain custody of her young son, whom she lost to her ex-husband who had cheated on her. For 5 years she has had no contact with the two, and spends her days loathing Mark because he was her ex-husband's lawyer. They work together at the LC Law firm where Mark, Joe, and Martha are lawyers and Sammi is an apprentice. Joe begins to have a crush on Sammi, who rejects him, and spends his days sitting at home listening to classical music. Why? Because he has a severe overbite which diminishes his looks. Because of his less-than-dreamy outward appearance, Joe suffers from major low self-esteem and constantly gets insulted by Martha, who's no dish herself.
But then Martha starts to have a thing for Joe when she begins to discover his inner substance and good heart, and the two have a "one night stand". Although he loves Martha, Joe is unwilling to start a relationship because of his lack of self-confidence. Eventually they get together, while Sammi has begun to grow feelings for Mark. Unfortunately, he's dating DoJ lawyer Tracy and Sammi vows not to come between them since she knows of the pain that can come from third parties. But Mark realises the one he loves is Sammi (can this get anymore predictable?) and breaks up with Tracy, who leaves for overseas for a break. She's followed by knight in shining armour Fai, a private investigator who was in charge of protecting her when she was receiving threats. When Tracy finds out that Fai secretly took care of her while she was gone, she is touched and they get together at the end also. Sammi regains custody of her son and she and Mark take care of the son, while Sammi never realises her dream of becoming a lawyer. The end.
Wow. Shortest plot summary ever.
Evaluation of Cast and Characters
Hacken Lee is terrific in here. He's not the best dramatic actor but he has brilliant comic instinct. His character is witty and intelligent, and Hacken Lee underacts charismatically as the super-intelligent but comes off as sometimes less-than-sympathetic Mark. He has the most hilarious lines of the series, and I loved his characterisation. Remember in the beginning when they showed his apartment and he had all these knick-knacks and toys because of Mark's fear of boredom? Hacken Lee is one of the rare singer-turned-actor who actually succeeds. He's an actor with presence and personality. Very good job and the best performance of the series. Of course, let's forget the fact that he and the actress who plays his mother have zero chemistry since their age difference is much too small.
Kenix Kwok has always been one of my favourite actresses but I find her too naturally pretty to make a convincing semi-housewife and scrimping woman who is clumsy and always in a rush. Her glasses and centre-parted hair gave her a silly screen presence, but quite frankly she and Hacken Lee had zero romantic chemistry also. Kenix Kwok also had no chemistry with the boy who played Sammi's son. It wasn't a bad performance per se, it was more of her talent being wasted since she wasn't given much to work with. However, her concluding speech near the end in court during her custody battle was done very well and was very touching.
Ng Yi Lei was such an ice queen in here that I wanted to kick her. Martha isn't that likeable of a character to begin with. "Face" is everything and she's cold and just downright mean. But Ng Yi Lei showed absolutely no vulnerability in the character. A better actress would have given the audience SOMETHING likeable about Martha's character, but unfortunately Ng Yi Lei was all primadonna. Annoying and vicious. Horrific performance.
Michael Tse is a different story. He's one of TVB's more low-profile actors but a very good one at that. Very few people seem to notice his moldeable face and good acting ability. I thought he gave a heartfelt performance as Joe in here, although I also thought the writers overexaggerated his character's overbite and bad looks. The harsh reality is, the legal profession depends greatly on looks. It's like business. How can you trust someone to fight a case for you when his appearance is so unlikeable? Very few people can look beyond appearance and first impressions are always lasting. BUT, Joe is a very compassionate character and Michael Tse did a very nice job showing the character's low self-esteem. His funniest scene was the one when he was alone in his office trying to dance with his coat hanger - totally hilarious and agreeable as the good-hearted Joe who was eager to please Martha.
Lau Cheuk Kei was ok as Tracy, she does look fairly professional and isn't someone who overacts (thank god), but she did come off as cold and unfeeling in half of her scenes. But I do find her pretty in a natural way, and she's quite natural in front of the camera (probably due to her work as a K-100 host). Stephen Au didn't have much to show here, nothing great, nothing terrible, while Myolie Wu is charming enough in her minor role. Shek Sau... dull as CC Kwan, having no chemistry with the actress who played his lover. BUT his scenes that portrayed the frosty relationship between CC and Mark were good.
Plot Analysis
I guess you can tell by my plot summary that there's not much to analyse in here at all. This series is nothing too new and if it weren't for the casting, the plot would be as interesting as burnt toast. It's as if TVB had some extra bucks they didn't know how to spend and just spent it on a half-baked story that resulted in Legal Entanglement. The cases, though, were interesting enough but I'm thinking TVB didn't spend too much time researching on the technical-legal aspects for them. There were two that I liked though: one was the case about surrogate motherhood and the other was one on the transsexual.
I was annoyed at the ending. Why didn't Sammi become a lawyer?! So she spent years working her butt off to become a lawyer just to regain custody of her son, then she gets custody of her son and then suddenly that hard work goes out of the window! And how DID she get custody of her son anyway? I never heard of an apprentice who could fight her own custody battle in court. Besides, they dragged the ending for so very long. The last 5 episodes could have been done in 2. All the "QQ, I'm your mom", "QQ, Mom loves you" blah blah was getting redundant.
PS I do not own the review.

TIME BEFORE TIME

This series marked the brief return of Kathy Chow Hoi Mei to TVB. At the same time, it was very successful in introducing the name Gordon Lam Ka Tung into households.

A ghost-human love story might sound like a cliché to a lot of people. However, with a strong cast and a well-written script, this series turned out to be very entertaining and emotional. The story started with the lovers, Siu Fu Yung (Chow Hoi Mei) and Luk Man Kwong (Gordon Lam Ka Tung), who were poisoned on one rainy night. On the way to hospital, Siu Fu Yung died and her soul was trapped in an umbrella. Twenty years later, Hui Tai Kwong (also played by Lam Ka Tung), who is a worker in the shop Kwong Cheung Leung, accidentally released Fu Yung’s soul from the umbrella. Fu Yung mistook Tai Kwong for her lover, Man Kwong, but he did not remember her. Tai Kwong had a childhood sweetheart, Mei Ying (Florence Kwok) who was also very much in love with him. She set out to find the person who was responsible for their tragic deaths twenty years earlier and why Tai Kwong looked exactly like Man Kwong.

Kathy Chow Hoi Mei was perfect as Siu Fu Yung, a heart-broken ghost whose only goal is to be reunited with her lover, Luk Man Kwong. The plot blends the love story of Fu Yung and Man Kwong into the present very well. How their love started and the obstacles that they had to overcome to be together set the background for why Siu Fu Yung was so determined to reunite with Man Kwong. Kathy Chow has an onscreen presence and she graced it with the confidence of an experienced actress and her acting charm. Her various costumes were beautiful and made her stand out from the rest of the cast. Kathy Chow turned in a poignant performance despite after many years away from TVB to prove that she still has what it takes to be a leading actress. Kathy Chow’s Siu Fu Yung is beautiful, demure, gentle, lovely, pitiful but not totally hopeless or useless.

If someone had said to me in the past that Gordon Lam Ka Tung would one day become a popular leading actor, I would not have believed it. To be honest, he doesn’t have the look. At times, I feel that his face is much more suitable for villain roles. Yet Gordon Lam Ka Tung proved himself in this series to be a very capable actor who could act in comedy and drama. As Man Kwong, he was playing a charming, rich man who was devoted to Fu Yung. As Tai Kwong, he was an uneducated but honest and hard-working man. Man Kwong and Tai Kwong may resemble each other but they are essentially two different men. One is of past life, in love with Fu Yung. One is of the present, in love with Mei Ying.

Florence Kwok is an excellent actress who has never been recognized for her talents and always has to take on non-lead roles, to the point that she was fed up with the entertainment circle and retired to work in office. Kenneth Lau delivered a decent performance as a young man who is kind-hearted. The rest of the cast also turned in strong performances.

The series is well edited with the story being told at a balanced pace without confusing the audience. The light-hearted comedy entertained the audience vastly but did not distract them from the main story. The setting is boring since it was in TVB studio but the costumes were beautiful.

*SPOILERS*: The ending bothered me a bit. Even though Fu Yung understood that her Man Kwong was now Tai Kwong and that she was a ghost and he a human so it was impossible for them to be together, she still waited patiently until the day he died so they could reincarnate together. Tai Kwong was happy to meet her when his spirit met hers, so it meant all these years that he had been living with Mei Ying, his heart was still with Fu Yung. Fu Yung never disappeared completely from their lives as Mei Ying had thought; she was always lurking around, waiting for the day that Tai Kwong would be hers.

In one series, you have comedy, romance, ghost, everything in one package. As it was a successful series, other series tried to follow its path such as “Seven Sisters” and “A Loving Spirit”, but these can’t be compared to the good script and excellent cast of “Time before Time”.
PS I do not own this review.

LAKE TAHOE

It's was the first time in my life I saw snow, I was very excited. We had travel 5 hours to go there, we went through the hills, saw trains. There was a lot of snow, but I was a litte bit sad because all the snow became ice. It not very cold in the morning bacause the sunshine, but at night its very cold. We took this picture during the way home.

I was in the forest with uncle Trinh and brother.

At the lake with family

I was on the hill with dad, snow had fill most of the hill; the only color I saw the most is green of the trees and white of snow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

It's was my first birth day in America, uncle Thuan gave me a cake, uncle Trinh and auntie 3 gave me $50, mom and dad gave me $20, auntie 2 gave me $20, and grandma gave me $30. I didn't get any present, but I got money its ok too, hehe.

SPEECH OF SILENCE

I like the layout of the website [abstract kind], even though I didn't like the poster.Introduction:Taste the bittersweet, breathe the love.Read my mind between silence and soundTong Tong (Kate Tsui) loses part of her hearing in an accident but she has a positive attitude towards life and she knows how to take good care of others. With the support of her mentor Ko Ming (Yue Yeung), Tong Tong becomes a voice over talent by utilizing her lip reading ability and she meets another voice talent Leung Kai Yin (Kenneth Ma) who also has keen interest in the industry. Kai Yin is fond of the leading voice actress Yuen Siu Na (Claire Yiu) and he asks Tong Tong to be his matchmaker. Tong Tong suffers from a lack of confidence to exhibit her love to Kai Yin so she prefers to help achieve his wish.Kai Yin and Tong Tong soon become the famous couple of the industry and their career grows swiftly. However, Tong Tong's younger sister Chai Ka Yee (Elaine Yiu) suddenly commits suicide after losing her love. In order to rescue Ka Yee, Tong Tong loses her hearing completely. Ka Yee is deeply ashamed for causing the tragedy and Cheung Yau (Chris Lai) consoles her whole-heartedly. After the trauma, Tong Tong abandons herself completely and she hides away from everybody including Kai Yin. During the time, Ko Ming's voice over team suddenly breaks up and Kai Yin is the only person staying behind. Ko Ming is helpless and he urges Tong Tong to return.
PS I do not own this review.

FORENSIC HEROES 2

Synopsis: A sequel to the highly successful series "Forensic Heroes", Forensic Heroes II (FHII) continued to bring the audience through several bizarre cases and how the forensic team, together with investigative work by detectives and the pathologist, uses state-of-the-art scientific technology to solve cases. In FHII, the script aims to achieve variety by dabbling into several arenas of life, ranging from simple traffic accidents to the cryptic relationships between movie stars. In addition to the exciting cases, the relationships inherited from "Forensic Heroes" were also further developed and new cast added complexity to the different love affairs.
Cast: Bobby Au Yeung as Tim Sir Sculpted as the "walking encyclopedia" in the previous "Forensic Heroes", Bobby definitely continued his excellent acting as the all-rounded Tim Sir, yes, pun intended. It is almost unbelievable how the invincible Tim-sir could hypothesize what happened during each case after just merely one glance around the crime scene. Yet Bobby put on such a good performance, that I'm convinced that Tim-sir can do that. And only Tim-sir could do it. I liked the way Tim-sir enlightens the rest of the team with his intelligence and knowledge, merely after listening to the results given by the forensic team. If there really had been a Tim-sir alike in any Forensic Team, then the world would have no more crimes!
Frankie Lam as Sam Koo Some people say that his acting is stiff, and that he doesn't act with any feelings. But I say that he's perhaps the best person for Sam Koo. He's suave, intelligent, with a hint of sadness in his eyes, especially after his loss of Ding Ding. He's cool when he does the gory job of cutting up corpses, which made the whole process look so attractive. He definitely showed his grief when his fiancée died just before the wedding, and as his tears dropped down his chiseled face, I just wish I could be there to wipe them away!
Yoyo Mung as Leung Siu-Yau I really have to say that Madam Leung should have had a better hairstyle. Shouldn't a highly successful Madam look sleek and cool, like her character back in FH? Instead of that mop of hair that made her look unserious, and incapable of solving the difficult cases? However, I do feel upset that her part had been cut quite drastically by the addition of Madam Ma. She should have been given the credit to use her newly acquired crime psychology to at least help out in some case!
Charmaine Sheh as Bell Ma Kwok-Ying She's cool, sleek, responsible, yet kind-hearted. She's strong, yet when she cried at the very end, I finally realized that Madam Ma is only human. Charmaine did a great job as Madam Ma, as she always did in recent years. Her acting definitely became much more matured over the years, and she probably is the person who can bring out the spirit of the tough Madam Ma. Initially I was a little put off by her fierce look, but as I strived on with the series, I realized how vulnerable she really is, behind her tough exterior. I have to also commend Charmaine for her excellent crying scenes, no distorted face, no bawling, just quietly weeping. And I cried too, when her tears finally dropped down her cheeks. Just a side note, I felt that the name "Bell" is just too... cute for such a tough Madam.
Kevin Cheng as Ivan Yeung Sunny, cheerful, loyal and caring Ivan can probably run for the best boyfriend award. He has no ill intentions, and he's always sincere. Kevin is charming enough to carry off the character, and his laugh is always infectious. He always looked cool in other series, but in this series, it's a little change from his usual cool self, because he is cheerful and likes to crack jokes. His unwavering love for Madam Ma made me envious of Madam Ma, to have someone love you this much.
Chemistry: Tim/Sam/Ivan Good chemistry between the three guys, and I especially enjoy their men's talk in Tim's living room every now and then. It was natural, intellectual and yet attractive. Sam and Ivan also oozed with friendship through their interaction together, manly and loyal.
Tim/Siu-Yau I find it difficult to reconcile this pair, because Siu-Yau just doesn't look too matching to the mature Tim-sir. Yet of course at the end when they finally got together I'm happy too, because I suspect their fathers in the show would have been much noisier if they didn't get married.
Sam/Bell I'm upset with them for sharing those little private moments on the rooftop of the office, it was as if they forgot that Ivan even existed. Yet through those quiet afternoons together drinking coffee in front of their laptops, their chemistry was there. They didn't need to talk at all. And yet I know that they shared a bond. Perhaps because they had been through the same experiences, perhaps because they just know each other too well. It was interesting to watch Bell tread carefully between friendship and love.
Ivan/ Bell I may have believed that Ivan is in a one-sided relationship, until the very end. He was the only one putting in effort for Bell, standing behind her while she shone in her work. He was there to comfort her and to care for her quietly when she weeped. Yet Bell seemed ignorant of such a wonderful boyfriend until she realized how much she really cared for him. The onscreen chemistry was good, though I do complain that their dating scenes are too few to assess!
Production: I'm impressed with the script. Not only that the script incorporated the difficult to understand technology into different cases, the script tried their very best to educate the audience through little knowledge seeping through everywhere. For example, Sam highlighted the anatomy of our hearing system through the explanation of high frequency wavelengths. As a personnel involved in forefront research, I'm happy to see that much of today's best research tools were brought up in the show to educate the public about what science could bring to the world.
In addition, I liked how the script was written. Each line made a point, and each scene had a meaning. It was a joy to see a script so well-written in recent years. It was an artistic piece by itself, like how the start and the end matched each other. Every word spoken by each and every actor made sense. It makes the audience really feel intellectual just by watching the show!
PS I do not own this review.

MY LITTLE DOGS

On the day of Jan. 25, 07, that was my first day in America. I'd like to take a look around my new house. And I saw my little dog, her name is Panda. My auntie named her like that because when she was a little puppy she look exactly like a panda. Panda loved my uncle the most, next my auntie, than my sister, last me; we had a very fun time together. Days pass, on the day of July 24, o7, I and Panda had a great birthday party; I shared all my food with her.

Day by day, week by week, in the middle of August, I had 2 new dogs. The boy named Rocco, the girl is Sweetie. Rocco and Sweetie very cute and gentle. I'd like to play with them, but Panda jealous and she kept chasing them. The most important thing is when Rocco just got home, he did it to Panda. The sad thing is Rocco and Sweetie kept pee and poop inside the house. It's too late to train them, and my auntie say we have to give them away. I cried that day and I told her I'll clean their pee and poop. She agreed and we can kept them.

It's been 1 month since Rocco and Sweetie got home. And on the day of Sep. 30, 07, all my family welcomed our new family members. They're Panda's and Rocco's children, seven of them. After a week we started took care of them. About a month, we brough them into our living room, and taught them to recognize their owner, and their parent. The special one is Koala. it's a boy, he's the only one had white and brown hair. And we also taught Rocco to recognize his children. When the puppies is about 3 months, we gave them away, we only kept one, it's Koala.

Around December, we gave Rocco and Sweetie away, 'cause I'm also tired to clean their poop and pee. I didn't want to give to the outsider. Luckily, their old owner visited her mom and I gave them back to her. Now I have a very good time with Panda and Koala.

ABOUT MY FAMILY

My family are the most important thing to me. I lived with my mom and dad, my older sis and bro, I'm the youngest.

Taiyan(Tuyet)

My mom is 48 years_old. She doesn't like playing sport. But she taught me more important things. She work in the salon, when she have a day off, she cooked a lot of special dishes for us.

Tan

My dad is 46 years_old. He also doesn't like playing sport. He didn't taught me many thing. Because he have to go to work fro early morning to late night. Sometimes I mad at him because after work, or when he tired he keep yelling at us.

Angelina(Toan)

My sister is 22 years_old. She only liked swimming. She, liked my mom , also taught me many things. Sometimes she also upset because she too tired after school. She's the smartest one in my family.

Thien

My brother is 19 years_old. He always upset and he kept yelling at me and called me "stupid." I did that to him, too, but I didn't called him "stupid," I just says "go to hell," but we're just playing around.He loved playing soccer and he wanted to become a goalie.

Me

My name is Tiana, but my real name is Truc, my family called me Truc. I'm 11 years_old, in sxith grade. I love to swim, read, play games, online, ...ect. I also to lay in bed & listen to music, I loved Harry Potter (both books & movies). I also loves Japanese comic, books with cute animals, I loves dogs (puppies), kittens (hate cats).