The Master of Tai Chi Review

The Master of Tai Chi- 太極

No. of Episodes: 25

Main Cast:
Vincent Zhao as Mo Ma
Melissa Ng as Song Ching
Raymond Lam as Tuen Hiu Sing
Myolie Wu as Yin Ji Kwai/ Sze Kam
Selena Li as Yin Chui Kiu
Kenneth Ma as Mai Fung Nin
Power Chan as Ma Keung
Ellesmere Choi as Chaai Kei Hak Yeung
Derek Kwok as Lui Yau Ngo
Yoyo Chen as So Hung Ling

Synopsis:
Orphaned as a child, Mo Ma (Vincent Zhou Wen Zhuo) grew up in the country and started learning Tai Chi from his mentor at a very young age. The devastating experience of being abandoned by his mother has left him twisted and full of hatred. To help remove the anger and hatred in Ma’s heart, his mentor finally sacrifices his own life.To express gratitude to his mentor, and to accomplish the will of his father, Ma seeks to pursue the highest level of Tai Chi. He challenges Tuen Hiu Sing (Raymond Lam Fung), the leader of the top-ranked Chong Lung Sect, to a contest, but is defeated in the end. To beat Sing has then become his only goal. For a girl named Yin Chi Kwai (Myolie Wu Hang Yee) and the ambitious martial arts master Lui Yau Ngo (Kwok Jing Hung), Ma and Sing get into fights again and again.As Ma is on the road to his dream, the gap between him and his soul-mate Song Ching (Melissa Ng Mei Heng) is growing wider and wider.

Credits: Astro On Demand

Reviews:
This one was series that I was pretty hyped up about as there were lots of promotions regarding it. The cast chosen was enough to WOW me as they had specially asked Vincent Zhao to act in this one. I watched his past kungfu series before and really liked them. This was also one of Melissa's last production before she went into semi-retirement for her daughter. I haven't seen a Raymond and Myolie pairing in a long time so it made me quite excited again.

Vincent Zhao:
His voice was dubbed in Cantonese for this series as he couldn't speak the language. He looked especially charming when he was performing all those kung fu. TVB made a right choice of picking him to play the part of Mo Ma. I was laughing away whenever the bad guys in the show called him "Din Ma" or crazy horse. Vincent Zhao portrayed his character really well going from this hot headed guy to someone who learnt to forgive and forget.

Melissa Ng:
I always loved watching Melissa's series as she has this charisma and elegance in her. However, I have never or hardly seen her in an ancient series before so it was quite an eye opener for me. She plays this Ms. Nice Girl in here always giving in to those around her and takes care of everyone without a single complain. Melissa's clothes were kinda boring in here probably to portray the village type of person she was. However, her performance in here was still good.

Raymond Lam:
Raymond plays a young student who has to take over his father's sect after he dies. He is well-versed in martial arts and loves Myolie deeply. However, his character is always under pressure from the elders and you would probably always see a very depressed Raymond in this series. You could see the fluctuations in his emotions. As always, a very good performance by Raymond.

Myolie Wu:
She plays a rich young mistress in here who loses her family members and fortune all in one day after a soldier betrays her father. She and Selena are half-sisters in this series but they are not close until after their father dies. In my opinion, I didn't really like Myolie's acting in here as I thought it was rather exaggerating and got to a point of irritating after a while. There were lots of screaming and shouting and crying all at once. Too much for an emotional scene actually. Better luck next time.

Selena Li:
She plays Myolie's sister in here. I think TVB purposely chose Selena as she is able to perform this type of appear weak but strong inside type of character. I feel sad for her character as she has to hide all her feelings inside. She gives birth to a son towards the end but dies shortly after.

Kenneth Ma:
Firstly, his hair was a definite no no here. I don't understand why TVB could give such dashing hairstyles to Raymond & Vincent but lets Kenneth carry this "Bowl-Cut" hairstlye around. He plays this childish character who thinks simply of the world. Kenneth was quite alright in this series. Not much of a breakthrough though. He's just playing this extra character out of the 2 other guys.

Couples:

Vincent & Melissa:
This is the first time I've ever seen Vincent & Melissa in a series together and was quite excited about their relationship. It was sad to see how they both love each other but couldn't be together due to various obstacles in their way. And they didn't end up together due to different responsibilities they have towards the Martial Arts Realm and their families.

Raymond & Myolie:
It was nice to see Raymond & Myolie again even though they had very few romantic scenes together. Their faces were usually those depressed and sad kind whenever they were together. They even had a bed scene in this series but both were crying while they were at it. It was also quite sad to see Myolie always using Raymond when she was still in love with Vincent.

Vincent & Myolie:
This is a definite no no couple for me. They lacked chemistry and they look so weird together. I'm glad they didn't work out. Period.

Kenneth & Selena:
They look kinda compatible with each other and were quite matching in this series. It actually erked me a bit when I saw Kenneth so indecisive about marrying Selena as he felt he would be cheating on Melissa but towards the end, you could see he really love Selena. It was so sad when she died trying to protect him from that Japanese guy. She loved Kenneth to the end as well and even gave birth to their son who they named "Mai Fan" or Rice.

Kenneth & Melissa:
I didn't even think they looked like a couple. More like an elder sister and younger brotherto me.

Overall Ratings:
3.5/5

The series did not WOW me eventually. It was just plain draggy in the beginning and the climax only came in after episode 20. The series picked up with an ok type of ending- some people dying, one of the couples not ending up together etc. The Tai Chi and Kung Fu in here was fantastic though. The casts must have practiced really long and hard for their roles as everybody looked like Kung Fu masters. So if you are a fan of any of the casts above, you should probably give this series a try but again, don't expect too much from the beginning.