One sentence: I still love "Butterfly Lovers".
Until now, they never fail to make me want to watch that series again. And I wish either AEC or ShuangXing will play it. But Astro might not play it since it was played in WaTV...but still.
See the reviews here and part 2 here.
But today I'm not reviewing that.
I'm reviewing on a recent Hong Kong TVB show called "A Journey Called Life" or 金石良緣 acted by Steven Ma 馬浚偉 and Linda Chung 鍾嘉欣 and the legendary 肥貓 鄭則仕 Kent Cheng.
I watched this after seeing the preview on Astro On Demand Preview Channel (Ch 302). And I was interested in how the story will turn out.
Plot (Warning: Spoilers!)
Onn (Steven Ma) is the disciple of Kam Sek / Fei Lo Ban (Fat Boss) (Kent Cheng) who operates a stone chiseling factory. KaKa (Linda Chung) is a delinquent girl who hates her stepmother and also her father, to an extend. KaKa feels that her father cheated on her mother and cause her mother to get into gambling and consequently dies.
Forget the first three and the last two. The middle is Linda Chung as Sze KaKa and Elaine Yiu as Hana. Well, if you really must know, the guy on KaKa's side is her ex-boyfriend who runs a handphone shop with her.
Kam Sek loves to help everyone in his apartment area and treats Onn more like a son than his own son, Roy (Raymond Cho 曹永廉) which Kam Sek's wife spoils.
Onn's father loved marathon but died when Onn and the sisters were still young, so Onn quit school and went under the tutelage of KamSek. Onn proceeded to become a real master in chiseling and KamSek is proud till he decided to sell the factory to Onn, much to Roy's (who's in the share buying habit) dismay.
Fala Chen as Vicky, Raymond Cho as Roy, Steven Ma as Onn and Angelina Lo as KamSek's wife.
Onn's 1st sister Vicky (Fala Chen 陳法拉) loves money, wanting everything branded. She got into the company where Roy and his boss Mr. Tung (Cheng Tse Sing 鄭子誠) are in. Roy always try to gain favor with the boss till willing to give up his girlfriend Vicky for success.
Mr. Tung and his sidekick, Ben. Mr. Tung is a womanizer who wants Vicky as his lucky charm.
Onn's 2nd sister Moon (Helena Wong 黃卓慧) is a simple university girl who fell in love with the simple, dyslexic boy of KaKa's household (KaKa's 3rd stepbrother). Through an unexpected pregnancy, Moon and Heng (Stephen Wong 黃嘉樂) got married and though a little childish sometimes, they symbolized a simple but happy marriage as opposed to Vicky's tremulous affair with two men which got Vicky and Roy into really hot water.
The two behind are Heng and Moon, Onn's youngest sister and her husband.
KaKa, under the guidance of Onn and KamSek, changes for the better, especially after losing her friend Hana (Elaine Yiu 姚子羚) to a case of drug overdose.
Fei Lo Ban was thinking of a way to make KaKa run with Onn during Onn's practice for the marathon.
Then the story goes, KaKa fell in love with Onn and through a marathon, they both officially became a couple though 10 years apart in age. Married, pregnant, lost the baby due to Vicky's drunk driving...KamSek lost his house because his wife took it and sold it off to help Roy in his debts.
Maggie, after nearly got raped by KaKa's first stepbrother. Notice the difference in Linda Chung from the previous picture.
KaKa lost a friend but found another in Maggie (Queenie Chu 朱慧敏) who was the supervisor in Mr. Tung's cosmetic company till got kicked out by Vicky. KaKa also reconciled with her father when she realised the truth that her mother was a gambler all along. KaKa also reconciled with her stepmother after she lost her baby and the stepmother, who fell sick after kicking the husband out of the house and realizing the people who really loved her (like her third son Heng which she also kicked out because his determination in marrying Moon and her husband) as opposed to people who loved her money (her own 2 sons and daughter).
It was a story of happiness, lost and found. In the end, it was KaKa who got her husband to run again (meaning to not give up in life) after Onn felt like it was all his fault that Vicky turned out that way (loving money over family, giving up her values, aborting her and Roy's child, "killing" Onn's unborn baby, killing herself in the end with sleeping pills and a whole bottle of expensive liquor) and that he could not save his daughter.
KaKa showing Onn that he shouldn't give up being a nice guy just because he failed once. They look like husband and wife here, not brother and sister.
Roy at the same time finally got the understanding that KamSek loved him very much, just didn't know how to express it, till KamSek felt that he was a failure as well. Roy finally realized his mistake after in a spur of anger, injured his own father.
***
My thoughts on this drama...
It's been quite sometime when Kent Cheng acted. And I wanted to see how Linda Chung will do cause I didn't think that her chemistry with Steven Ma was sparkling enough. Besides, the plot sounded interesting.
Well, it is interesting. I find the occupation of KamSek and Onn are a new thing. I mean, which show talks about people who carved tombstones? Anyway. Though in retrospect, the plot gets cliched since it's around the same story about happiness lost and found. But I like this show due to its nicely interwoven stories and FAST timeline. One episode can have KaKa getting pregnant, and two episodes later, KaKa lost her 7-months old baby. Hong Kong dramas tend to be fast-paced and it's good.
2nd row: Lo Co and Tam Suk (both are KamSek Factory's faithful employees), Maggie, KaKa's father and reformed stepmother.
1st row: KamSek's wife, KamSek (why he looked so angry here I have no idea), Onn's mother, Moon and Heng (look how they hold hands on a hot day)
It is a sweet story for Onn and KaKa who went through some minor obstacles to be together, though after they got married, their story dimmed and it wasn't very detailed on how they cultivate their love even after marriage and how KaKa really becomes accepted as a new person. However, I especially liked the part where KaKa told Maggie that she was worried for Onn as Onn is too naive because he had not went through big storms in his life as how she had. At first it was Onn who was the stronger hand who held the helm, but in the last episodes, KaKa took over.
Onn and KaKa in their wedding. This was when her stepmother suddenly barged in and stopped the wedding proceedings. Here, they looked the most like lovers.
It was a sad story for Roy and Vicky, especially Vicky. On their quest for success and riches, they both lost it all and Roy would have to live with the guilt of his greed for the rest of his life. Vicky, well, at least she reconciled with her brother who earlier on, disowned her before her death.
KamSek was the only one who remained quite unwavered until the last few episodes when Roy lost everything. He loved to talk about philosophy and tried to be the peacemaker and negotiator, using his philosophical point of view.
Vicky after her abortion, kicked out by Mr. Tung and disowned by her brother.
The ending was a bit of a blah. KamSek suddenly got his house back (whatever happened to the previous buyers), and KaKa's stepmother was like "Later I will treat everyone in my restaurant!" in inexpressible joy. What was oddest was that KaKa walks towards Onn and told him, "I'm pregnant!" when before her first pregnancy was more of like a miracle cause she had a problem in conception. It was like as if there's no way better to end that part. But oh well. Don't they all end this way. And then all of them hug and rejoiced together. Lalala...though it was a proper ending, I kinda wished that they could have ended it in a less dramatic way.
Happy family picture. Notice the baby bump on KaKa. This was just moments before her accident.
Linda Chung were great when she was still in her bad-girl dressing. Then she became very mellowed-down and became this 180 degrees changed woman who speaks gently and very understanding and also cries frequently. Oh well.
Steven Ma is always a good actor. Like his acting, acted like as if he's really a human. Sometimes characters can get too nice or too bad or too patient and sometimes it annoys you.
I find that in the last episodes that Onn and KaKa looked most like lovers.
The chemistry? So-so. Sometimes they acted more like brother and sister rather than lovers. But that maybe just me.
***
Conclusion: It's not a bad show, can get a little addictive, can get a little frustrating with the characters but hey, that's drama. And it's a Hong Kong drama. And where Hong Kong drama is concerned, there is always the element of heavy drama.
Enjoy.
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