BURNING FLAMES II

Cast: Wong Hei as Kei Tak Tin Maggie Cheung Ho Yee as Chung Yan Yee Alex Fong Chung Shun as Wilson Tong Ming Yoyo Mung as Kong Yat Ngor (Yan) Flora Chan Wai Shan as Michelle Ho Po Lam Stephen Au Kam Tong as Choi Nam Fung Annie Man Chung Han as Yip Heung Yeung Kevin Cheng Kar Weng as Mark Kei Hing Tin Jenny Shing as Kei Yew (Yew Yew)
Although it shares the same title as Burning Flame 1, Burning Flame 2 does not pick up where Burning Flame 1 left off. Burning Flame 2 is a totally new and different series with whole new casts and characters. Well, the only similarity between them is that Wong Hei is in both of the series.
This series mainly focuses on the life, love, responsibilities and duties of our heroes as firefighters.
The story of Kei Tak Tin
Kei Tak Tin is a married man with a daughter named Yew Yew of around 7 to 8 years old. But unfortunately, his wife (cameo appearance by Jessica Hsuan) passed away in a road accident a very long time ago, leaving him to take care of their only daughter. Before his wife passed away, Kei Tak was actually a very ambitious fireman, but after that, everything just went down the drain for him. He now lives his life for his daughter only. His daughter is the top priority in his life. He never wants to put his life in danger whenever he is on duty because of his daughter. Because of that, he does not take his job seriously and is irresponsible in his duties. And because of that, he often gets misunderstood by his colleagues, his team captain (Wilson Tong Ming) and of course, us, the audience. As the story continues, his past life is revealed to us in flashbacks and we get to understand why he is the way he is, and we cannot really blame him for his attitude towards his job. One of the flashbacks we get to see is that he swore in front of his late wife’s tombstone that: “1. He will never forget that she is his wife. 2. He will never forget Yew Yew and will love her unconditionally and 3. He will never put his life in danger whenever he is on duty because Yew Yew has already lost a mother, and she cannot afford to lose a father.” However, later on in the story, he begins to change his attitude when he starts to have feelings towards Chung Yan Yee. He is promoted and everything starts to go well for him until his tragic ending…
The story of Chung Yan Yee
Chung Yan Yee is not a firefighter, but a paramedic. She is a very ambitious and responsible paramedic. In the beginning of the story, she dislikes Kei Tak because of his attitude and does not understand him. Later on in the story, both of them have a mutual understanding and become very close friends. She always takes care of Kei Tak’s daughter when Kei Tak is busy on duty. That is when Kei Tak starts to have feelings for her, but she does not know that. Instead, she has feelings towards Kei Tak’s little brother, Mark Kei Hing Tin and both of them start to go out together. Yee actually has a dark past. She was a problematic kid in her teenage years, but all that changed because of an incident (well, this is a rather long story, so I recommend you to watch it for yourselves). Because of that incident, she was no longer a problematic teenager and did very well in her studies, and became who she is today. Nobody knows of her dark past, except for her father and later, Kei Tak. However, one day, her dark past comes back to haunt her. To make the story short, everything goes well in the end, but not too well when she decides to tell Mark about her dark past. Well, her boyfriend gets to know the truth, and it is very hard for him to swallow. Yee realizes that Mark cannot really accept her dark past, and their relationship starts to go shaky. Between all these happenings, Yee also finds out that Kei Tak has feelings for her, but she rejects him. Shortly after, she breaks up with Mark and starts to have feelings for Kei Tak…
The story of Wilson Tong Ming
Wilson is a very, very, I have to say very again, ambitious, responsible and talented fireman. He is also very strict and a no-nonsense team captain. He wants everything to be perfect and expects quite a lot from those working under him. Wilson is perfect in his job, but when it comes to managing his marriage, he is a total failure. He is married to Kong Yat Ngor (Yan), but they do not seem to have mutual understanding. At times, when he is very pressured and stressed, his wife does not notice. Sometimes, he also cannot stand his wife because she acts very childishly at times and depends on him too much. One day, he meets Michelle Ho Po Lam during his work and both of them hit off. He also admires Michelle’s character because she is a very independent woman, unlike his wife. Anyway, to make the story short, Michelle is by his side during his difficult moments and he starts to have feelings for her. When his wife senses a difference in him and later finds out about a third party, his wife separates from him and goes on to seek a new life. Wilson is very upset about this and realizes that he really loves his wife. He regrets his action very much and tries to win his wife back…
The story of Kong Yat Ngor (Yan)
Kong Yat Ngor (Yan) is a happily married woman (and a housewife) to Wilson. She is a responsible housewife and loves her husband very much. Because she is a housewife, she is very dependent on her husband and at times, acts very childishly. She thinks that everything is perfect in her life, until she has a quarrel with her husband and goes to Thailand, leaving her husband behind. When she returns and finds out about a third party in their relationship, she separates from her husband for a while, and later divorces him. Then, she finds a job and works under Michelle, but still does not know that Michelle is actually the third party. Her life and attitude start to change. She has become a very independent woman and does very well in her job. She and Michelle have also become best friends. However, things start to get complicated when she finds out that Michelle is actually the third party, and what’s more, sees her ex-husband hugging Michelle. This is such a pity because she and Wilson are starting to get back together. She cannot accept the fact that her best friend is actually the one who ruined her marriage, so she resigns her job and leaves her ex-husband once again…
The story of Michelle Ho Po Lam
Michelle is a very successful and independent career woman. She is always very busy with her job that she does not have time for love, until she meets Wilson. Well, her love story is actually in the wrong place, at the wrong time and at the wrong moment because Wilson is already a married man. When she realizes that Wilson is already married, she tries to stay away and keep a distance from him. However, on one fateful night, she pours out all her feelings to Wilson and Wilson gives her a kiss on her forehead, and everything starts to change. This incident happens when Wilson’s wife left him for Thailand. Later on, when Yan divorces Wilson, Michelle is together with Wilson for a while. Michelle later finds out that Yan is actually Wilson’s ex-wife and things start to get complicated. Then, Wilson tells her that he wants to get back together with his wife and so she leaves Wilson, not knowing that Yan has also left him…
The story of Choi Nam Fung
Choi Nam Fung is an ex-judo exponent. His judo master passed away, leaving behind his wife, Yip Heung Yeung to take care of the judo centre, and of course with the help of Fung and his judo mates. One day, Fung sees an advertisement in a newspaper about recruiting new firefighters and decides to give it a try. He becomes a fireman, and likes his job very much, but he is still very new and lacks experience. He is Kei Tak’s brother-in-law, but they do not see eye-to-eye in the beginning of the story because they are always fighting about who gets to take care of Yew Yew. Fung also always protects Yeung whenever she is in trouble. At first, their relationship is only master’s wife and student, but later, it all changes when Yeung has feelings for him. At first, Fung rejects her because he thinks it is against the rule for a student to go out with master’s wife. But then, he also realizes that he has feelings for her, and so, they start to go out together. Fung wants to keep their relationship a secret because he is afraid that if his judo mates find out about it, they will not accept it. These are some of the funny scenes because whenever they go out dating, he will always dress up funnily to disguise himself so that no one would recognize him. However, later in the story, his judo mates find out about their relationship, but everything goes well, as they accept their relationship. As the story continues, Yeung one day wants Fung to quit his job as a fireman and work as a salesman or else she will not marry him. Fung is now left with a very tough decision to make…
The story of Yip Heung Yeung
Yeung is a married woman, but her husband passed away a long time ago (it was not told in the series how or why her husband passed away). Yeung is forever searching for new boyfriends but unfortunately, her boyfriends never last for a day or two because she always sees their weaknesses. At first, you might hate this character and think that she is a playgirl type because she changes her boyfriends like she changes her clothes, but as the story continues, we get to understand why. Actually, she wants a man who is perfect for her, like her late husband. Whenever she has a new boyfriend, she will always compare her new boyfriend with her late husband. Although her husband passed away a long time ago, she still cannot forget and let go of him. That is why she is always searching for new boyfriends in the hope that one of them can be as good as her late husband and replace him in her heart. All that change when she has feelings for Fung. They start to go out together and for the first time in the series, she has a relationship that lasts her more than two days. She is very happy with her new relationship with Fung, and they decide to get married. However, one day, when Yeung sees how Fung rescued a man from fire, she becomes so scared and worried that she wanted Fung to quit his job as a fireman or else she will not marry him. This is because she has already lost a husband once, and does not want to lose a husband again. For this reason, she gives Fung two choices: either to be a fireman and not marry her, or marry her and quit his job…
The story of Mark Kei Hing Tin
Mark Kei Hing Tin is Kei Tak’s little brother. He is also a very ambitious, responsible and talented fireman, a total contrast from his big brother. His position is even higher than Kei Tak's! At the beginning of the story, he has a good attitude and a good relationship with his brother and Yee. However, his relationship with both of them starts to change when he finds out about Yee’s dark past. He cannot really accept Yee’s dark past because he thinks that he is perfect and so he wants a perfect girlfriend too. He is even more pissed off when he learns that Kei Tak already knew about Yee’s dark past long before he himself knew about it. Because of that, he begins to treat them differently, especially Yee. As the story continues, his attitude starts to change from good to bad. He even has another girlfriend behind Yee’s back. He does not have a good relationship with his brother anymore, and his relationship with Yee starts to go shaky. He is very happy when Yee asked for a break up, but he does not show it (of course, we as the audience know what he is thinking). He begins to make use of other people in a higher position than him to get promoted quickly. His reason is because he wants to be the youngest fireman to get promoted the quickest, and he will gain fame and popularity. His brother knows of his change of attitude and tries to advise him but he does not take heed…
Casts:
Wong Hei
Wong Hei has done it again! His character in this series is totally different than in Burning Flame 1, and he portrays his character in this series very well. Personally, I prefer him taking on funny roles rather than serious roles like his serious role in Doomed To Oblivion and A Matter of Customs. Well, that’s just my preference.
Maggie Cheung
Maggie did very well in this series, but her performance is not somewhat special or outstanding. Don’t get me wrong, I like this actress, but I feel that she could have done better. Probably her character in this series is too normal and I feel that any actress can take up her role easily.
Alex Fong
*YAWN*… is all I can think about his character. I feel so bored watching his character. His performance-wise? Well, I think that he could have done better with his facial expressions.
Yoyo Mung
Who is she anyway? I have never seen her act before. Fortunately, this new face does not disappoint me. At first, I hate her character because she is very annoying, but after she divorced Wilson, I start to grow fond of her. Her portrayal of her character is acceptable and tolerable for me. Not bad for an actress that I have never seen before.
Flora Chan
Other than her being a third party in this series, her character does not have much development. You can say that the only reason for her to be in this series is to be the third party for Wilson and Yan. Her character in here is always the same: independent, successful career woman. However, she does not show much of her performance here because her role was too small, you can even ignore her character if not for her third party role.
Stephen Au
A great performance from this actor! He did very well with his facial expressions and actions. His crying scenes are quite well done too. I think that this actor can take up both funny roles and serious roles, like his serious role in A Case Of Misadventure.
Annie Man
Her character in this series is cute but stubborn at the same time. Then again, it is nothing special because all the characters she portrayed in her past series were stubborn and cute characters, like her roles in The Legendary Four Aces and Colourful Life. However, I do not get bored watching her portraying this kind of character.
Kevin Cheng
This is another new face for me. His performance in this series was ok, I guess, but he still needs a lot of improvement. However, he did very well in his transformation from a good guy to a bad guy and he managed to get the audience to hate his character. Although his performance was rather stiff, he did not over-act. I hate actors/actresses who over-act, so he was ok.
Jenny Shing
For an actress of such a young age, she is one hell of a good actress!!! Not only can she act, she can also cry as well! I cried watching her cry in the last episode. It was as if she was really crying and not just faking it for acting purposes. Two thumbs up for an actress at this young of age!
In the next section, I will touch a little bit on the ending, so if you guys have not watched the last episode of this series, you can either skip the next section, or go ahead if you want to.
Some spoilers!!
This is quite a good series, but I do not really like the story line. Maybe you guys will not feel it, but I felt that this series is kind of draggy. Especially the Kei Tak Tin-Chung Yan Yee love story line. I was so looking forward to seeing both of them get together as a couple, but their love story just drags on and on and on. Although both of them already know that they have feelings for each other, I still have to wait for the next episode, and the next episode, and the NEXT episode to see them get together… and when they DO finally get together at last, we only get to see them together for few episodes only, and then they (the producers, director and scriptwriter) had to go and make Kei Tak die!!!! Why oh why oh why??? A big SIGH… I mean, what’s the point? Both of them went through a lot together, and this is the ending for them???? They are the main casts in this series, but we only get to see them together as a couple for a few episodes only, and such a sudden ending. In the end, I just feel so frustrated watching their love story.
The Wilson-Yan-Michelle triangle love story line does not help much either and only adds to the dragginess to this series. I feel so bored watching their triangle love story. It is a total waste of time!!!
However, the Choi Nam Fung-Yip Heung Yeung love story line was very well done and a delight to watch. They made a really cute and funny couple in this series. I really enjoyed watching their love story.
There are no villains in this series. The only bad guy in this series is Mark, but he is not a villain, and he is the only character I hate the most. He is so egoistic (one of the attitudes that girls hate most in guys) and always uses other people for his own benefits.
As I have mentioned earlier, I cried watching Jenny Shing cry in the last episode. In the last episode, she told her uncle, Fung, that she knew that her father had passed away and that she knew Fung was lying to her that her father was working late. She told Fung that she knew her father would never come back home ever again. And with that, she cried together with Fung. I really felt for her in this scene. She really made the audience feel that she had really lost a father. This is definitely the most emotional scene for me.
Despite the fact that I do not like the Kei Tak Tin-Chung Yan Yee love story line, I really feel pity for Kei Tak. He was only one step away from his happiness, because he was going to propose to Yee after their duty, but as fate would have it, it was the last duty for him, as he died rescuing a bad guy. I feel pity for Yee also because she had lost someone she really loved. I feel so sad for Yew Yew because she lost both of her parents. However, Kei Tak’s death is not all bad news. His death has affected his brother very deeply and made his brother change his bad attitude. He died truly a hero and has left everybody remembering him, hence his name Kei Tak (if you notice, translating “Kei Tak” to English, the meaning is “remember”).
I do not have any worst actors and actresses for this series as all of them did a good job in portraying their characters.
Some comparison between Burning Flame 1 and Burning Flame 2
The differences
Wong Hei’s different character in Burning Flame 2.
Burning Flame 2 does not have any villains. It focuses more on the day-to-day lives of the firefighters, unlike the typical TVB drama series, where the story is somewhat twisted. In Burning Flame 1, Louis Koo’s character’s brother is actually not his real brother and he was actually someone else’s son. Wong Hei’s character is actually the son of a rich family. This is what I mean by the typical TVB drama, where there is always a long lost son or daughter or brother or sister in a rich family. And there is always the typical villain who will kill whoever is in his way in order to get what he wants. In Burning Flame 2, you do not get that.
The similarities
Other than the fact that Wong Hei is in both of the series, the only similarity I can think of is that Wong Hei once again falls in love with his brother’s girlfriend.
Conclusion
I will remember the ending of this series for quite a while because of the way Kei Tak died. Well, the love story line in this series is not impressive enough for me, but thanks to Wong Hei, Maggie Cheung, Stephen Au, Annie Man and an unexpected Jenny Shing – they really saved this series.
I definitely prefer Burning Flame 1 because I think that it is not as draggy as Burning Flame 2. The entire love story in Burning Flame 1 is a delight to watch. Putting Alex Fong as one of the main casts in Burning Flame 2 really spoilt the whole series for me. He should be on the supporting role and let Wong Hei and Maggie Cheung have more screen time. Maybe that way, their love story will not be that draggy. Oh well…
This is a recommended series for all Wong Hei, Maggie Cheung and Burning Flame’s fans. But if you rent this series in the hope that it will be something like Burning Flame 1, then you will be disappointed.
PS This is not my review (again), this is so sad that Wong Hei died in the end.