Byn With TVB

2008-04-30T19:45:00.001+08:00

Hello all!

I'm off to Japan for a holiday. Be back on 8 May!

Watch out for my TVB updates then ya?

Bye Bye!

The Silver Chambers of Sorrow Preview

2008-04-29T00:53:00.002+08:00

The Silver Chambers of Sorrow- 銀樓金粉

No. of Episodes: 21

Main Casts

Nancy Sit - Big Wife (大奶奶)
Christine Ng - Ching Sau Wu (程秀杏) / 3rd Wife
Shirley Yeung - Chau Kuk (秋菊) / Maid
Paul Chun - Sheung Kwan (尚錕) / Husband
Nancy Wu - Ha Fei Fei (夏霏霏) / 4th Wife
Ng Wai Kwok
Matt Yeung
Rebecca Chan - 2nd Wife

Synopsis

A Rich Family is Ruled by Lust
A Hymn is Mourned Over by Feuds

"Sheung's Silver Chamber", the largest jewel company in Foshan, Guangdong Province China, is facing serious financial difficulties. In order to obtain a loan from SHUM's family, SHEUNG HANG (Paul Chun), owner of the Chamber, together with his primary wife, CHOI SIU-DIP (Nancy Sit), plot to arrange marriage between SHEUNG WAN (Ng Wai Kwok), HANG's younger brother, and SHUM WING-TUNG (Winnie Young), daughter of SHUM's family. Fueled by hatred, CHING SAU-HANG (Christine Ng), WAN's lover, marries HANG and ironically becomes WAN's sister-in-law. WAN falls out with HANG, and opts to live abroad and disconnects from his family. After leaving home for years, WAN does not return home until the occasion to celebrate his father's birthday. Tension between the two brothers comes to a head when HANG is reluctant to pay ransom to save the youngest son of WAN. WAN is determined to disconnect completely from his family ever since.Since WAN's return, SAU-HANG suffers from her husband's neglect and gets framed for causing the fourth concubine FEI FEI's (Nancy Wu) miscarriage. Hatred leads her to commit act that revenge. She seeks to subvert SHEUNG's family by luring KWAN. Intentionally, she unveils TSAU GUK (Shirley Yeung), the maid in the family, is HANG's illegitimate daughter. The dark age of a once-prominent family begins.

Credits: Astro on Demand

Screenshots available here

Byn's thoughts

It's been a long time since I've watched an ancient series with such a heavy tone of sadness and anger in all of the characters. The moment you lay eyes on the poster, you know the show is not going to be a happy one. The previews of this series also show a bird cage at the end. I think it meant that all of the members of the family were trapped like birds and couldn't fly out of it to claim their own happiness.

The veteran actors and actresses would be the ones leading in this series meaning I would be expecting excellent acting and portrayal of their roles. It'll be quite interesting to see a series without any Raymond, Ron, Bosco, Kevin, Sammul etc ppl for once.

Overall, I would be catching this series and hopefully I'll get hooked on it.. =)

A Journey Called Life Review

2008-04-28T23:50:00.002+08:00

A Journey Called Life- 金石良缘

No. of Episodes: 20

Main Cast:
Steven Ma as Shing Yat On
Linda Chung as Sze Ka Ka
Kent Cheng as Kam Sek (Fat Boss)
Fala Chen as Shing Mei Sum (Vicky)
Raymond Cho as Kam Wing Loi (Roy)

Synopsis:
SZE KA-KA (Linda Chung) becomes disobedient since her mother passed away at her young age. KA desperately searches for her mother's cremains which she has no idea why they have gone missing. Eventually, she is able to find the cremains in SHING KAM-SHEK's (Kent Cheng) stone factory. KA's love to her mother impresses SHEK and his disciple SHING YAT-ON (Steven Ma) a lot. ON helps KA to solve many of her problems, he also finds her a job in his sister SHING MEI-SUM's (Fala Chen) company. KA appreciates all the things ON has done for her. Clearly, she adores him, but she does not confess her love to him because of her self-contempt. The love chance comes by the time when SHEK is staying in the hospital. KA replaces SHEK as the Marathon trainer to ON.SUM is a money-oriented woman who wants to marry a rich man. She involves herself in a threesome with SHEK's son KAM WING-LOI (Raymond Cho) and her boss TUNG KA-CHEUNG (Cheng Tse Sing). She gets pregnant accidentally. Later, she has an abortion because she does not want the baby to ruin her chance to getting rich. The family is bitterly disappointed in SUM. SUM does not repent what she has done. SUM injures KA whom is pregnant by drunk driving. ON loses his battle for life since then.

Credits: Astro On Demand

Reviews:
Firstly, I was not all that hyped over this series in the beginning due to the fact that I have not heard of it until a few days before it aired. Haha. So I thought, "Yeah, why not? Let's just give it a try. It's just another series to while away my time". Oh boy! I was so wrong. This series not only got me so hooked on it, it even make me open up this blog to share my thoughts on it. If you'd noticed, it's the first series which I have done proper screencaps and write ups on. The title was really appropriate for it as the show really brings out what life is about: Happiness, Sadness, Love, Career, Money etc.

Steven Ma:
I'm a total fan of Steven so I was quite glad that he was chosen to be in it. It also seems that he had been working out and going for tanning sessions for this role. His character is a total Mr. Nice Guy; he plays a great brother, a loving husband and father and basically just a great guy belonging to the group of extinct men just like Linda said in this series. This role really matches Steven as he is a great character actor and has the type of look I would expect from Shing Yat On's character. He couldn't have been replaced by anyone else. Great job!

Linda Chung:
Haven't seen her for a very long time so I was quite interested in seeing her on screen again. She plays a gangster girl turned good girl after a series of hardships she had to go through. Linda has improved tremendously in this series and everybody would agree that this is one of her breakthrough performances. She had loads of crying scenes in this series that was carried out so naturally that the audience really felt for her. In other words, even if you're not a fan of Linda Chung, you'll become one after this series.

Kent Cheng:
Ah! The veteren specially called back for this series. As usual, I haven't seen Kent in a long while. The producers did a correct decision of bringing him back for this series. I just can't see how another actor could fit the role of "Fat Boss". Kent brings it across naturally with his pet phrases like, "Bad Boy", "Low IQ", "Looking from the point of a philosopher" etc. Having Kent in this series just makes it more fun to watch.

Fala Chen:
Hmm. I'm not really a Fala fan to begin with. Haven't watch many of her shows yet. This is not the first time that Fala is acting as a materialistic and beautiful type of girl (Steps) so I wasn't expecting much from her character. Fala is seen in too many of these roles so her performance just bored me in this series. However, she did a good job towards the ending when she aborted her baby and died from overdosing on sleeping pills and alcohol.

Raymond Cho:
Another actor who I don't see very often and he looks like he's playing the same roles all the time. Not much comment on his character cos I wasn't really paying attention. Sorry.

Couples:
Steven & Linda:
It's been 3 years since their last pairing in Virtues of Harmony II. I totally loved them in there. They were so natural and cute so I was quite excited to hear that they were going to be together again. Their relationship starts of really hard and tough from rejection by their family members to conceiving difficulties to a tragic miscarriage. Nonetheless, the performance by this two actors were stunning. They looked completely comfortable and natural together. Definitely one of my favourite pairings ever.

Fala & Raymond:
Er.. Totally not interested in their story. They were cheating on each other with their own motives (one wanted to marry a rich guy and one wanted to make the most money possible). Didn't get their relationship at all. Hope I won't see their pairing ever again. Period.

Overall Ratings:
4.5/5

It's most definitely a must watch for everybody of all ages. The storyline flowed really well and it showcased the ups and downs of life and thus the title of this series. This is also one of the few series that does not have a rushed ending and instead everything ended well. The producers did a super duper job on filming the emotional scenes especially in Episode 19. A round of applause for them! The cast did a commendable job as well save for a few. All in all, please watch this series. =)

A Journey Called Life Episode 20 (Finale)

2008-04-27T23:52:00.006+08:00

The final episode of A Journey Called Life. It was quite a good ending, didn't felt it was too rush even though there was a random kidnapping scene added in too.

Fala heads out to the beach after swallowing some sleepings pills with alcohol. She starts feeling chest pains and calls Steven for help. I felt sorry for her at this moment esp with that line, "I'm cold. I wann go home".

Steven saves Fala from the water and prepares to bring her to the hospital but she stops him and instead tells him to look after their mother and that she was sorry for everythig she has done.

After saying those words, Fala dies in front of Steven's eyes. A really emotional scene as you could see that Steven had already forgiven Fala and wanted her to live so badly. Ok. I seriously did not expect Fala to die. I knew she was going to commit suicide but didn't expect that they woud kill of her character. But if I were her, I wonder how I could ever live with such regret and remorse.

Steven feels very troubled after the series of deaths and goes to find Kent for some talk. They spot Raymond suspiciously entering the building. He had actually kidnapped Cheng Tse Shing as an act of revenge for Fala. Kent and Steven arrives just in time to stop him.

Steven tries to stop Raymond and Tse Shing uses this chance to escape. He falls of a cliff after that. Kent calls the police and begs Raymond to stop.

The latter was so angry at Kent for calling the police that he breaks Steven's leg and hits Kent with a brick on his forehead. !!!!!! Kent starts to bleed and Raymond realises how wrong he had been all the time.

Steven and Linda sign up for a marathon together but he has no motivation to run and on top of that, his stamina has weakened as well. He quits halfway telling Linda he doesn't wanna run anymore.

Linda tries to encourage him to run with her.

"Ok. I will finish this race with or without you however, I really wish you would finish it with me. It was you who taught me that I should never give up in life. So, I'm gonna continue running and I believe that you would catch up with me. I'll wait for you at the end."

Steven sits by the road and suddenly, he hears a voice asking him why was he sitting there. It turns out that it was his daughter who was talking to him! She gives him a bottle of water and tells him to continue after drinking it. He tells her "Daddy misses you!" and she disappears after that. I was half expecting Fala to appear as well. Steven really missed his daughter so much.

Steven finally catches up with Linda at the ending but she trips and falls suddenly. He runs back to her and they eventually finish the race together! Such a sweet and happy ending!

The family congratulates them and Mary thanks Linda for helping Steven to get back on his feet again. Kent tries to act cool but gives a thumbs up sign in the end. =)

Steven tells Linda that he would buck up in future and live life to the fullest. He knew that their daughter would be very happy to see that they have finished the race together.

Kent visits Raymond in jail and the latter says he has reflected on his life and promises to be a good guy after leaving that dreaded place.

Kent and Angela moves back to their old hime that Steven has bought for them and Linda arrives with good news. She was pregnant again! Yay for her! I'm sure Steven would be doubly protective of her after this.

The series ends of with Kent saying that "As long as you do not give up, nothing is impossible."

I would be doing up a final review of this series soon so keep a look out for it ya? =)

A Journey Called Life Episode 19

2008-04-27T23:34:00.005+08:00

The saddest episode of A Journey Called Life ever. It caused me to cry buckets. Linda Chung really does a good job with her crying scenes. It made me feel for her. The saddest thing was that 2 babies were killed in this episode. Not going to post my views on abortions cos this is not a political blog. =)
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Stephen & Helena went home to visit his mother and offered her the tea like in the traditional wedding ceremony. The whole family finally makes up.
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Fala meets Raymond and tells him that the baby is his. He promises to be responsible but she is adamant on aborting it. Raymond calls Steven for help but they cannot get through to her phone.

By the time they had found her, she had already aborted the baby. Raymond & Steven both get mad at her but she does not realise her mistake and instead say that she is doing it all for her own good. Steven leaves angrily and tells her she is no longer his younger sister.

Fala returns home and is beaten up by Cheng Tse Shing for aborting the baby and for cheating on him. She leaves in fear and drives the car out. She calls Steven and the home phone but no one would take her call as they were still angry at her for aborting the child. She drowns her sorrow in alcohol.

Steven meets her by chance on the streets and she apologises profusely for her mistakes. He doesn't forgive her and she drives the car away even though she was drunk. Tragedy is about to strike as Linda and the family approaches the road where a very drunk Fala is drink driving.

A pedestrian crosses the street and Fala swerves to avoid him and ends up hitting Linda instead!

Steven and the family is waiting outside for the doctor and Fala started to be concern over Linda. Steven doesn't want her concern and the doctor comes out to inform them that Linda is ok. Suddenly, a nurse comes out to inform that something is wrong with Linda and they sent her to the operating theatre immediately.

Linda starts to worry when she realises the baby hasn't kicked her since the accident. Steven consoles her saying that their baby is asleep. The doctor then informs them that the baby's heart has stopped beating and has died. !!!!!!!! Oh no! Linda gets really agitated but the doctor insists that the baby has to be removed immediatey or she would die too.

Linda gives birth to her baby naturally and Steven asks the doctor to let them see the baby one last time. My heart crashed the moment I heard that the baby was dead. I didn't really expect it. Imagine the pain Linda must be feeling after so much difficulty just to have a baby only to realise it was dead. Worse still was that she still had to give birth to it and see that it wasn't crying. =(

Steven tells the family is dead and gets really agitated upon seeing Fala. He tells Fala why must she kill his baby after she had killed hers. It was such a depressing scene. I didn't know whether to feel sorry for Steven for losing his baby or for Fala for having to bear such a deep regret in future.

Steven spends some time with some of the baby's items with his mother. It was such a soft sentimental scene that I felt so depressed after watching it. It was really such a pity that the baby couldn't come home with them.

Steven blames himself for causing his sister to become a failure and for not protecting his nephew/neice and his daugther. Kent tries to console him but Steven was in no mood to listen to him and even starts to holler at Kent. I thought that Steven really needed somewhere to scream and shout his frustrations out. He really looked like he was about to burst anytime.

The family goes to cremate the baby while Fala peaks at them secretly from behind. Now I finally know who this scene was for. From the 1st episode, I just kept guessing who was the one who died but now I finally knew the answer. =(

Prepare lots of tissues for this episode. It made me so depress I kept thinking about it.. =(

Catch Me Now Episode 5

2008-04-27T22:07:00.013+08:00

We see more of Damian's past in this episode and litte scenes here and there. Just another episode.
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We see that Joe's parents were killed in a factory fire caused by Evergreen's father in the past. He overhears the conversation and vows revenge.

Just a random thought. I felt that the actor that played the younger Damian in this series looked a lot like Raymond Lam. Do you guys feel the same? Hehe.
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Anyway, to continue, the younger Damian captures Evergreen and his father and tells him to do more good instead of evil if not he would come back after him again. From then onwards, Damian vows to be a person who would help poor victims.
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Fala finds out that Joe has been demoted by his boss and is angry that he did not tell her about it. Hmm. I'm not all that interested in their relationship actually. Nothing really exciting or funny. Just plain sweet love.
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Johnson invites Sharon to an exhibition but she is no mood to go after hearing that Joe had been demoted. Their scenes are what I look forward to next after the police & thief scenes. I think Sharon looks quite old in this series. Probably her heavy eye liner and mascara.
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Joe and his team have a buffet to bid him farewell after his demotion. They corner Damian and starts to make things difficult for him. Kinda pity Damian though. Dickson arrives and tells the team that he has managed to make Joe returned to the team. Yay for them but boo for Damian. His plan eventually flops.

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Catch Me Now Episode 4

2008-04-27T22:06:00.008+08:00

Another very exciting episode of Catch Me Now.. Damian and his team sets a plan to trap Joe & the police.. Very smart plan I must say..

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Joe and Damian have a race where Joe tells Damian of his mentor's death 5 years ago. This lead to a short recollection of Damian which shows him pointing a gun at Joe's mentor. Hmm. I wonder what's their relationship because Damian doesn't look like the type who would kill.
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Sharon is mad at Johnson for not replacing her Mimi toy in time and sends him another email explaining that she would ruin his reputation in the forum. Johnson sets off to look for Sharon to ask her to give him another chance.

Johnson then fakes that he had cancer due to over exertion from finding her toy. At first, Sharon believes him and is apologetic for causing him to be like this. However, she soons see through his disguise and pulls it off him.

Shaorn is trying to break through a firewall virus and has problems doing it. Johnson steps into to help and they finally make it up. She treats him to a fine dining meal along a fountain. I wonder why she took that trouble to buy plates and glasses and ingredients. Wouldn't going to a restaurant be faster? Haha. But it was kinda cute to see them finally become friends.
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Koni boards Eric's taxi and they pretend not to know each other. He mentions a magazine name and a handphone number for her to call if she ever needed a taxi. The police finds their conversation suspicious and tries to decipher it. The phone number was "93941920". 93 referred to the page number on the magazine which is the location (Bowling Alley) of the plan later on. 94 referred to the date while 1920 referred to the time.

At first I was wondering how Koni & Eric could be so careless as to let the police know about their plan but the answer was at the back. Anyway, I didn't know Joe Ma was left handed. Haha.. I'm left handed too.. Wonder which other artistes are also left handed.
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The plan starts! It's gonna get very confusing. Read on to understand. Damian pretends to teach Idy to make a souffle but he was on the phone the whole time. The wonders of handsfree & bluetooth. Johnson is at the bowling alley waiting for Al Wai to come. The latter places a packet inside a locker. Johnson tells Damian that "the ingredients are in". He was actually telling Damian that the package had been deposited.
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Eric arrives next, he passes Johnson but they pretend not to know each other. Eric tells Damian over the phone that the "egg white has been added into the egg yolk. Stir for another 4 mins". Well, it actually means that he (egg white) has already reached the destination (egg yolk) and he will reach the bowling alley in another 4 mins.
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Koni arrives at the scene next. Joe orders the bowling alley staff to open the locker up and tells Dickson & Aimee to delay Koni from going up. They pretend to have a lover's tiff to irritate Koni but she takes the escalator instead. Joe opens the package and sees some photos in them. He takes some pictures of them just before Koni proceeds to look at them as well. She phones Damian "the souffle is done". She actually meant that Joe had taken the bait. Wonder what I mean? Read on to find out.
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The police follows Koni & Eric to Royal Court Hotel (the hotel used in Revolving Doors of Vengeance). Again, I was wondering why did Koni & Eric take the risk of being seen together. The photos taken at the locker were sent to the police headquarters for verification but the commissioner has a shock after he looks at them. Wonder why?
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Koni & Eric proceed on to the hotel's restaurant where the guys in the pictures were dining. They change into waiter's uniforms and Koni takes aim at the chandelier and shoots it down causing the whole room to go into total darkness and confusion. During the confusion, Joe and his team dashes in and points guns at the guys in the pictures while Eric and Koni make their departure. Aimee attacks one of the guys and Joe's superior comes in and scolds them for attacking the police officers from China.
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Damian & his team celebrate their success in trapping Joe and the police. If you don't understand the plan, it was actually to cause Joe to mistake that Damian's team was on to another transaction and their partners were the guys in the pictures. However, Damian had actually tracked down that the China Police Officers would be in Hong Kong and trapped Joe into attacking them so he would demoted by his boss and would stop following them.

A very smart plan. I was thinking through out the plan why was Damian so stupid as to let the police be so close on their tails. Guess I was wrong. His character is damn smart.

Catch Me Now Episode 3

2008-04-24T20:23:00.007+08:00

Hehe.. I liked this episode as there were many Sharon & Johnson's scenes. Anyway, it's getting more exciting as Joe finally narrows down the suspects to Damian's team.
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Continuing from the previous episode, Koni shoots some pellets at Johnson to alert him that it was a trap. She also shot Joe's cameras and voice analysis systems and created a strong echo, giving Johnson & Damian a chance to escape. The team changes outfits and meets Keyman at an emergency exit where he blows up for them to exit in time. Joe asks the boy who Koni held and he tells him that it was a "sister" that held him.
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The team pretends to be angry at Johnson for nearly exposing their identity and Damian tells them to prepare the punishment. They catch Johnson and he promises to go to the countryside to teach the young children there. The team then surprises him by telling him it was just a hoax. Haha.. I like the teamwork shown in Damian's team. It's very natural and fun to watch. They're like one big family.
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Joe and his team start to test different type of perfumes to narrow down the type of perfume Koni was wearing. A perfume expert then tells them it is a perfume called Chance and its a limited edition version.

Hmm.. I thought it was rather cliche that in almost every police series, every clue is a limited edition and they have a specific namelist of people who bought them. So easy to locate then. Maybe I was having more expectations of this series.

Anyway, I think Fala & Joe looks compatible as a couple because they're both very tall.
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A simple dinner by the family where Joe starts to suspect Koni as the shooter as she also wore Chance perfume.
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Johnson is forced to leave for the countryside and sings a very mushy song to Damian before he leaves. Damian claims that he is not gay and he wants Johnson to leave immediately. I like to see their cousin relationship. Very funny at times. =)
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Sharon is representing her security company to check on a supermarket's security device. Johnson is suspected of stealing something when the alarms sounds. While checking Johnson's bag, Sharon sees a couple of "Mini" collection toys that she collects too and Johnson's identification card. The manager of the supermarket then realises Johnson was stepping on a barcode tag which triggered the alarm.

This reminded me of the scene in Healing Hands III when Lawrence Ng was also suspected of stealing something from a supermarket but Gigi Lai found out it was because he was stepping on a barcode tag. No screencaps though. =p
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Johnson is about to throw away his "Mini" collection toys when he is stopped by Sharon who tells him to give them to her as she collects them too. He grabs her toy and accidentally crush them under his feet. Oops!

She takes a photo of him and tells him that she has got all his personal particulars from viewing his ID and will post it on the "Mini" collection forum so that the other members would blackmail him. Haha.. I like Sharon in this series. She carries off a fun loving but serious at the same time girl. Furthermore, her chemistry with Johnson is awesome as well. They do not have the couple face but they are fun couple to watch.
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On the other hand, Joe & his team start to follow Koni around. Celine Ma didn't have enough money on hand and sees Koni on the street by chance. She asks her to lend her money but Koni pretends not to know her. Celine then realises she has forgotten that Eric had told her not to acknowledge any of their team members as the police were on their tails.
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The police gets suspicious of Celine & Koni's chance meeting and digs deeper. They find out that Celine & Eric were married and they all belonged to a same team. Their target now was the mastermind.
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Another Sharon & Johnson scene! Johnson gives her a duplicate "Mini" toy but Sharon realises it is a fake. She grabs him by the shirt and threatens to blackmail him on the forum again. Haha.. They're so funny tgt!
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Johnson sneaks into Sharon's house to try to steal her other "Mini" toy as a duplicate and ends up realising that Joe was her brother. He also finds out that Joe suspects Eric & Koni and reports it to Damian.
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Joe & his team rummages through some rubbish found at Eric's garage and finds a "Pirates of the Caribbean" matchbox. Damian purposely left his PDA on the table and Joe heads over to check it out. Damian sneaks up from behind and asks if Joe found what he was looking for. Joe admits that he is finding evidence of Damian's crimes.

Ooh.. The plot thickens!

A Journey Called Life Episode 18

2008-04-24T20:14:00.004+08:00

Er.. Quite a boring episode cos it was mainly focused on Fala's & Raymond's story and I'm not interested in it. Other than that, Linda & Steven gives a name for their daughter and Kent is forced to move house.
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Fala tells Raymond she is pregnant but is not sure if it belongs to him or Cheng Tse Shing. Raymond tells her that he has gotten some stock tips from the latter and after he's got the earnings, he will marry her.
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However, Ching Tse Shing had purposely released fake news to Raymond and cost him to lost $4 Million. He threatens to commit suicide if his mom doesn't help him.

Raymond & his mum sell the house secretly and finally admit to Kent. He's get furious and scolds Raymond for not listening to his advice in the first place. Now, the whole family has to move to the countryside. =(
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The last family photo taken before Kent moves away.

Kent bids goodbye to the whole family. It was such a sad moment esp when they played the themesong in the back ground.
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Raymond's loansharks came looking for him at the countryside and startst to beat him and Kent up when he cannot pay the remaining amount he owed. Steven arrives in time and tells the loansharks he'll be their guarantor. Raymond finally apologizes to Steven for all the things he had done to him.
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Claire tells Steven & Linda that their baby was a girl!

At home, Helena & Stephen helps to piece a picture of how Steven & Linda's baby would look like in the future. Kinda cute in my opinion. Haha.. Steven & Linda should get married and give birth to a baby in real life. Haha.. They also came up with a name for the baby- Angel Shing Hoi Yim. Not a bad name.
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The mad woman suddenly turned haggard and old as nobody at home would look after her. Linda's dad decide to return home to look after her and Linda tells him that she may not forgive her step mum in the short run but she has matured over the few months and will learn to forgive her in time. Awww..
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Episode 19 Preview: Fala loses her baby and Ching Tse Shing finds out. She drives the car and accidentally knocks into Linda. Oh no!!!!

Catch Me Now Episode 2

2008-04-23T20:13:00.005+08:00

Episode 2 of Catch Me Now wasn't that exciting. It was mainly focus on Idy's divorce and the further introduction of a few other characters in this series. Joe's hunt for his mentor's murderer and for Damian's team starts in this episode as well. Overall, I was not pleased the way they introduced Sharon's character as I expected an explosive entrance by her but it was just a shared scene of her eating with her family members. Fala's character is so similar to her character in AJCL. It's like watching Vicky act in Catch Me Now. Not much difference. Oh gosh.
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Idy rushes off to her husband's house to demand to see her son and ends up climbing the gate.

Her husband tells her that she doesn't stand a chance of beating him in the case. Damian arrives and tells her that although she can't beat the case, she can beat something else. Idy then gives her husband a tight slap across his face. I think Idy has a weird voice like she has lost it or something and sometimes her scenes are dubbed. Hmmm..
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Damian visits his lawyer friend onboard his Casino Ship and gives him a list of charity organisations to donate the money from the previous mission too. They watch a piece of news that shows Evergreen and his father donating some money to a charity as well. Damian recaps how he had turned Evergreen's dad from a bad person to the charitable person he is today.

However, Evergreen turns out to be a evil fella. He plays a card game with the drug dealer from the previous mission. If you guys remember, the money was actually banked into the dealer's account but was taken out by Damian unknowingly. Therefore, Evergreen had to pay him again.

Evergreen is furious over this issue and goes into the restroom and starts smashing things. He receives a glass of brandy from somebody who wrote a message under the coaster, "The good will be rewarded". It's quite obvious for us that it was Damian that wrote it.
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This scene introduces Fala. She works in a bank and was on her way off work when Joe appears to take her to dinner.
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This scene introduces Sharon as Joe's younger sister. The family is dining at a restaurant and it sorts of describes the family's justice league. Joe's dad used to be in the army, Joe's a policeman while Sharon works in a security company. Sharon's lamb chop is served with only mostly the bones and she demands compensation from the manager. Kinda shows her character is very upright and principled.
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The family realises that Joe has been transfered to another department and are excited that they can finally buy their dream house!
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The family then visits this big house that has settles all the qualities they were looking for only to realise that Joe was only transfered to a new department but not promoted thus there wasn't a raise in his salary to their disappointment. Awwww..

They start complaining in the cafe that it was such a pity to lose the house and realise they had already paid a deposit for the house! The agent refused to return the deposit and Joe turns up to pay the other instalments as he realised that his family really love the house. Aww.. What a great guy! I like the chemistry between their family. Very close knitted and comfortable.
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Fala tells Joe that she will try to save on buying her handbags and accessories in future. Kinda sounds like a repeat from her character in AJCL. Joe & Damian meet officially for the first time when Damian almost knocks Joe down with his bike.
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Dickson Lee plays Yau Dai Hoi, a CID part of Joe's team.

Aimee Chan plays Nana also a CID on Joe's team. She's pretty green in the acting industry so we'll just see.

Joe re-opens his mentor's murder case and his subordinate how he had witness the 5 robbers shoot his mentor, killing him on the spot. Hmm.. 5 robbers? Could it be Damian's team? Hoepfully it isn't them. Quite unexpected that they would murder and kill people. Joe looks at the evidence and realises there is something he has seen before- the toy.

A few days ago, he had found another similar toy in the evidence of the first mission. In actual fact, both toys are suspected to be Johnson's. Hmm.. It's quite questionable that he would drop such similar items during two missions.
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The family has dinner at Damian's restaurant. Sharon turns up late as she has gone to meet a buyer to get a collection toy. She explains that any collector would only feel at ease after they have collected the full set. Joe then sets a trap to lure Damian's team out.
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Damian overhears the conversation and tries to figure out what Joe's plan is. He then realises that Johnson had fallen for Joe's trap. He calls Koni to help him to stop Johnson.

The plan: Joe and his team had found a tape recording of the one of the robbers's voice. He plans to lure the robber out with a tongue twister competition to be able to record and match people's voices and offers the collector's toy as a reward hoping to lure him out.

Hmm.. I find that this plan was not that perfect. There were 5 robbers that day however, one of them dropped a toy while one of them had his voice accidentally recorded. How sure was Joe that the robber who dropped the toy was the one who spoke? Food for thought.

Damian realises it was too late to save Johnson and ask Koni to "Destroy the body". Koni then grabs a child and fires. We see Johnson in a painful expression in the last screencap. Wonder what she shot? Stay tune. =)
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A Journey Called Life Episode 17

2008-04-23T20:04:00.004+08:00

An episode full of tears of sadness & tears, lots of shouts and screams as well. Wonder what I'm talking about? Read on to find out.. =)
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Steven & Linda trying on their wedding gowns at this super elegant wedding shop. Her wedding gown is so long! I have no idea what Stephen & Helena were doing there though. Haha. Guess they just went to give opinions.
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Steven & Linda's wedding invitation! It's so nice. I'd love to be invited to their wedding. And I think Steven looks so charming in the 2nd pic. His eyes are so electrifying. =p
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Eric gets beaten up badly in prison and his mother is furious & heartbroken. She finds out that Linda was getting married and plans to disrupt it. She's so evil and it really serves Eric right. At least now he knows that he's not the strongest & toughest in the world.
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Steven & Linda take wedding photos outside the ROM while Linda's dad hides in the background as he knows Linda doesn't want to see him.
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Steven & Linda say their marriage vows in front of their families with Kent & Mary as their witnesses. It was so sweet that they could finally get married and the way they looked into each other's eyes was so real. Unknown to them, Linda's dad was standing outside the door eavesdropping on the whole ceremony. Suddenly, his famiy turn up.

She barges into the wedding ceremony and scolds Linda for causing Eric to be in hospital and tells everybody how bad a past Linda once had. Ooh, someone please shut the lady up! Suddenly, she takes the wedding certificate and tears it up into pieces. Steven was so furious! She was really too much!

Linda's dad then steps out and slaps his wife hard on the face for ruining his daughter's wedding ceremony! OH yes! At last, he finally stands up to her. Linda was so touched by his action.

The mad woman finally gets pulled away by security and the ceremony re-begins. It was a much sincere and thorough ceremony with Steven & Linda both saying their vows for each other and with Linda's dad finally at the helm of the witness instead of Kent. Linda finally forgives her dad. It was such a touching scene esp when they were saying their vows.

By the way, what a big typo error in the wedding certificate. Instead of "Bridegroom", the certificate wrote "Bridgeroom". I wonder who was in charge of typing this out.
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Steven, Linda, her dad & Kent return to the mad woman's house when an emotional scene takes place. Linda finally learns the truth why the mad woman hates her mother so much. Seems like Linda's mum used to be an obessive gambler who had to borrow from the loan sharks to pay off her debts. And when she couldn't, she had to go and become a prostitute and contacted some STDs. The loan sharks came after the family and the mad woman actually got accidentally stabbed by loansharks. Oooh.. Now I see why she hates Linda & her mum so much.
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Linda & Steven visit her mum's and Elaine's grave and told them that they were finally married. ___________________________________________________

Okie.. This was such a funny scene. Angela (Kent's wife) returns and demands that Kent profess his undivided love for her if not she will leave. At first Kent refused as it was too mushy but then he does something even more surprising. He stars singing a song professing his love for her. It was so funny. Kent has good stamina. You could already see how tired he was and he still had to sing & dance. However, it was all worth it as Angela returned. =)
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Helena is in school for an examination and her water bags burst in between. She was going to give birth prematurely! Her classmate calls Stephen and he rushes to the school immediately where Helena has already given birth to a healthy baby.
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Linda complains of stomach pains and that she hasn't had her period for 2 months. Steven brings her back to Claire's clinic for a check. He plays with a toy car to kill the time and suddenly he hears a scream from the room.

At first Linda was speechless while Claire was just smiling away. He starts to get worried when Linda exclaims that she was pregnant!!!! Oooh.. Miracles do exist! Steven runs over to thank Claire and hug Linda. It was such an exciting scene! Linda finally has a child. =) But I guess it's going to be a tough pregnancy.
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Episode 18 Preview: The next episode will mostly focus on Raymond. I think he loses all his fortune and his whole family has to move.

Catch Me Now Episode 1

2008-04-22T23:13:00.007+08:00

My initial thoughts after watching the first episode? I'M TOTALLY HOOKED! Catch Me Now didn't dissappoint me with its first episode with the exciting storyline and cliffhangers. It's quite a different type of storyline than what TVB usually fims (The classic Police & Thief story).

Joe Ma is the police solving cases. Damian Lau appears to be the thief but he is in fact a "Robin Hood" type of character. He robs the rich and gives to the poor. How does he do that? Read on to find out. =)
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Stephen Hyunh guests stars momentarily as a drug dealer who gets cornered by Joe and his team in a church while undergoing a transaction. I think he's really charming so a little credit for his tiny role in this series. This transaction also starts off the first case of this series.
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Ok. This series introduces the main characters in this special tiny intro telling us their names and roles. I like it as it's so cool and you know the casts's roles better. Read on to see more intros of the casts. By the way, Joe Ma plays Senior Inspector Keung Yeung.
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Damian is guessing where Stephen has kept the drugs in the church and he names the candles just as Joe had suspected.

Damian's lawyer friend then tels him that he has the mind of a cop & a thief that's why he hasn't been caught all this time. Anyway, Damian's new mission is to now find out the location of the money used in this transaction. (Stephen and the other drug dealer fooled the police by using magazines in the briefcases.)
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Damian Lau plays Jack Ko- The Mastermind. I like how the producers gave him this role name. Fits his character very well.
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Eric Lee plays Hao Lo- The Mad Racer. He's part of Damian's team and is in charge of transportation. Has excellent driving skills.

Al Wai plays Keyman- The Demolition Man. He is also on Damian's team and excels in bomb making.

Damian owns a cafe called Pirates of the Caribbean as he sells Caribbean Cuisine. His team usually meets up at the cafe to discuss their missions. Sherming Yiu plays the manager of this cafe. I think it's a rather pretty cafe with its delicate designs and elegant landscapes.
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Koni Lui plays Long Leg Crab, a shooter on Damian's team. She uses a lot of her beauty in getting information from people. Reminds me of Bernice Liu's character in Into Thin Air.
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Koni tries to explain why she is late and suddenly strips to her swimsuit to explain that she rushed over from her swimsuit modelling assignment. So far, I think her acting is so-so only. Not that outstanding.

Johnson Lee plays BT- The Hacker, the final member of Damian's team.
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Evergreen Mak meets the dealer of the drug money to claim the money?? Sorry. I didn't understand what they were talking about in here. All I know they were splitting something in 60%. Can anybody explain?

Technology is so advanced now. Pin hole cameras can be installed in cigarette boxes and pens and lip reading services are available as and when. Both the police and Damian's team finds out the location of Evergreen's transaction.
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This picture is actually to showcase the importance of teamwork in Damian's team. Eric ensures they drive fast and safe enought to avoid anybody, Johnson is in charge of computer devices, Koni places a device to change the traffic lights into all green lights so they can drive past easily and Damian is the leader of everything. Haven't really seen Al Wai's role yet though. Guess there's nothing for him to blow up yet. Haha.

Eric accidentally swerves and almost hits Idy Chan and her son. I guess Damian is carrying a secret torch for her as he gets shy and worried whenever she is around. He even went to rebuy her groceries as a way to apologise for almost knocking her down.
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Damian's undeground hideout. We see abit of the member's duties here too. It's so cool. If I get to choose, I'll choose to be BT- The Hacker (Johnson) cos I think it's an interesting role!
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The police and Damian's team arrive at the transaction location to seize the money. The police tries to ward off the dealers but they are unable to approach the money as Koni is up in the hills being the sniper and shooting bullets to prevent them from approaching the money giving the dealers a way to escape with it. The excitment starts here as we start to see how Damian plans for the money to reach his hands.
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Koni's the sniper in green by the way. Joe guesses that the transaction would be done by a helicopter and a boat and he was right. Evergreen calls the dealer who enters a pin number into his mobile phone. The money had been transacted into his Dubai Bank Account.
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Johnson installs a fake tiny explosion in Evergreen's helicopter to give off the impression that the helicopter is losing fuel causing it to land in a destination that they were heading off too.
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Eric blocks the road with the lorry and the team walks on to the helicopter pad only to realise that Joe has already reached befor them by riding a bike. By the way, I think Joe looks hot in his outfit. =) He asks his men to search Evergreen's helicopter for the money but to no avail.

Unknown to Joe, Evergreen had already dumped the money into the sea before landing and told his pilot to remember the location so that they could come back for it later.

Surprisingly, unknown to Evergreen as well, Damian had asked Johnson to check the location where the helicopter got lighter after Evergreen throws down the money. He and Koni then drives to the location and dives down to get the money. Koni thought they had only gotten the $50 Million that Evergreen had tossed out but Damian tells her that they had $80 Million as he had set a bug in the dealer's mobile phone and he accessed the dealer's Dubai Bank Account using the pin code he had tapped.
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The team celebrates their success in getting the money. If you guys still don't get how Damian is a "Robin Hood" kind of fella, he actually steals this kind of money (drug transactions etc) and gives it to charity. The team members usually get to keep 50% of it while they donate the rest to charity as well. To me, I think it's quite controversial as people may say that they are doing it for good while others may think the money should be returned to the government instead of them deciding where to use it or pocket it.
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Damian has a very nice & technologically advanced house in this series. He is able to preprogram from his mobile phone for the shades to be raised and for his bath to be run. The lights in his house turn on when he is in the room and fades off when he leaves. Cool.. But it's such a big house and he's the only one in it. =(
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Idy Chan realises her husband (Cheng Tse Shing) has been cheating on her all the while and Damian goes over to console her.

So far, I'm loving this series a lot and I hope it'll continue to be as action-packed as its first episode. Do stay tune!

A Journey Called Life Episode 16

2008-04-22T23:12:00.009+08:00

Hello! Ok.. This episode focuses a lot on Linda & Steven because they break up, get back together and propose in this episode. 3-in-1.. Haha.. Guess they wanna save some screen time.. Linda crys alot in here though.. And I would like to apologise to all "Fala & Raymond" fans out there.. I don't really like this couple nor interested in their story so you probably wun see much of their screencaps here..

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The police finally found a new witness for Queenie's rape case. He is a beggar who was sleeping on the streets next to where the incident was and happened to witness everything. Eric gets tried in caught and is sentenced to 5 years in jail. Yes! At last.. And his mum still blames Linda for causing him to be in this situation. Doesn't she see that it's her fault for spoiling him all the while? Oh well.. At least Eric gets his just desserts.
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Claire tells Linda that due to her previous abortion operations that weren't done properly, she may not be able to give birth.. Oh gosh I do worry for her but the themevideo did show her pregnant and giving birth so I guess she'll be able to in the end? Haha..
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Linda glances through some photos of she and Steven together and worries about their future. I like the way she was looking at the wind chime and the wind blowing in her hair. She looks pretty but at the same time, you could feel her worry and fear.

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Steven turns up at Linda's house and she finally tells him that she isn't able to give birth to children. She doesn't want Steven to touch her either as she felt ashamed that she slept with other men before and had aborted her babies before. Such an emotional scene. But it's so sweet to see that Steven doesn't mind her past and even consoles her that they can take care of Helena & Stephen's child as their own or they can adopt one. Awww. Steven must be feeling disappointed as well but he realised that Linda meant more to him than anything else. =)
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The breakup scene! Mary (The actress that plays Steven's mum) tells Linda that she minds that she wouldn't be able to give birth and Linda decides to break up with him. She returns the wind chime to him and again, she tells him how ashamed she was that he was such a good guy but she was a girl with a bad past. Steven tells her to give him more time to talk to his Mum but she told him that it was no use and walks off. =(
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I totally love this part! Kent's words of advice are always the best.

Kent: Do you want a Daughter-In-Law who is simple and nice and is able to give you 2 babies in 3 years?

Mary: Of course!

Kent: But what if Steven doesn't love her?

Mary: *Silent*

Kent: If you had known that Steven's father would die young and you would have to raise 3 children yourself, would you still marry him? You know you still would. This is because when you love a person, you wouldn't mind his weaknesses as you will accept him for what he is and understand him. These weaknesses are not important as long as you love him.

Way to go Kent! This reminds me of a phrase from Placebo Cure way back in 2004. It was when Cherrie Kong's mum found out that Cherrie and Eileen Yeow were a lesbian couple. She disapproved of it in the beginning but accepted it sincerely at the scene where Eileen decided to leave for Cherrie's sake. This was because she remembered Sunny Chan's words of advice which was "To use love to accept everything."

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Ok! Back to AJCL! Haha.. The "Patch Up" scene. Quite a dumb way actually. Haha. Linda finally realises that she should fight for her happiness and runs off to find Steven. Coincidentally, Steven runs to find Linda as well after his Mum gives them the green light. And again, coincidentally, they meet along the same bridge. Haha. Well, this is drama. Everything is coincidental and fairytale like. Haha.
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The proposing scene! A very cute one I might say. Steven is really cheeky.

Linda: What can I do for you?

Steven: I'm looking for you so that we can get married.

Linda: Ok, I'm not scared of you.

Steven: So when are you free?

Linda: You'll have to carry me for the rest of our lives if we get married.

Steven: Ok. I'm not scared of you.

Haha.. Such a sweet proposing scene. At sunrise as well. This scene reminds me of that scene when Linda asks Steven to listen to the wind chime with her another time and he told her to make an appointment with his secretary. Haha.

Episode 17 Preview: Linda & Steven get married but her stepmother arrives and tears their wedding certificate. Linda's father then gives her a tight slap on the face! I'm so excited!

Catch Me Now Preview

2008-04-21T00:56:00.004+08:00

Catch Me Now - 原來愛上賊

No. of Episodes: 20

Themesong Available @ http://www.bynwithtvbdownloads.blogspot.com/

Main Casts

Damian Lau as Jack Ko Chi
Joe Ma as Kwong Yeung
Idy Chan as Bao Yung-Yung
Fala Chen as Hong Mei-Lei
Johnson Lee
Evergreen Mak
Dickson Lee
Sharon Chan

Synopsis

Robs the rich and gives the poor.
He's more than just a thief.
Fights against injustice and crime.
He's more than just a cop.

A sum of drug money triggers battle of wits between Kwong Yeung (Joe Ma) and Ko Chi (Damian Lau), a detective and a thief. Yeung gradually discovers the true identity of Chi is a mob chief who uses the restaurant business to cover his illegal activities. Despite all efforts, Yeung lacks sufficient evidence to support allegations against Chi. Nevertheless Yeung keeps a close eye on Chi and believes in the ultimate triumph of good over evil. Yeung's devotion to his work sours his relationship with his wife Hong Mei-Lei (Fala Chen). Fortunately, Lei is given support and encouragement by her best friend Bao Yung-Yung (Idy Chan). Chi is deeply attracted to Yung's kind-hearted personality. He even risks exposing his secret identity to save her life. There is a choice between love and ideal...

Credits to Astro on Demand

Screenshots

Screenshot 1
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Screenshot 5
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Screenshot 10

More available here.

Byn's Thoughts

To start off with, the poster gives off a very sexy and mysterious feel to it which I think it's quite suitable for the theme of the show. I'm quite excited for this series even though I don't really like Damian Lau and airing this show together with A Journey Called Life means I'll be seeing Fala Chen in two series in a row.

My main motivation of watching this series is actually to see Sharon Chan but a pity she's only playing a supporting character as a bodyguard in this series. I've seen news articles of her pairing with Johnson Lee so I'm quite excited about them.

I guess another hyped up about point of this series is Idy Chan's return to acting. I've read that she used to play Siu Long Niu before but I guess either I wasn't born yet or too young to even be watching TVB. Haha. So her casting is actually quite new to me.

I haven't see Joe Ma in a very long time already so I'm quite excited about his role although it would be his nth time acting as a cop. I didn't watch The Conquest or The Drive of Life so the last time I've seen him was in Maiden's Vow which was almost 2 years ago (WOW!).

As for Damian Lau, I'm not a very big fan of his after being quite traumatised watching him act in Men In Pain. Something interesting to note about Joe Ma & Damian Lau is that they have the exact same last 3 series that they filmed together which is Catch Me Now, The Drive of Life & The Conquest.

Overall, I'll be watching this series and hopefully it'll be as exciting as Death Investigation Extension which also happens to be a cop show.

Death Investigation Extension Episode 25 Alternate Ending

2008-04-20T21:48:00.014+08:00

Hello! DIE ended its run in HK on Friday night with an alternate ending that was filmed specially. The audience got to vote for an ending with they preferred which is for Roger to die or live in the series. And the result was... He got to live! But it was kinda expected actually. Haha. Nobody wanted him to die. Okie, so here are some screencaps for the alternate ending. =)
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The main cast of DIE gather after the scene where Roger dies in the hospital. They announce the results of the voting and Roger gets to live and everybody cheers! Although it is really expected as people would normally prefer a happy ending since this series is a comedy.

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There were some other series that also had alternate endings like La Femme Desperado & To Catch The Uncatcable. One ending for LFD was for Raymond Lam & Melissa Ng to be together & the other was for them to be seperated. As for TCTU, I think Dayo Wong died in one version but he didn't in the other. Please correct me if I'm wrong as I didn't watch the latter. =p

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Nancy then asks Kenneth to volunteer him to sacrifice his life so that Sonija & Roger can be together and that he would meet Queenie when he's down there. Haha. Kitty soons appears and tells them that she can help "transport" Kenneth & the D.I.E team back in time to stop the car from knocking Roger down.

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Kenneth & the DIE team are transported back to stop the driver who was heading off to Shenzhen to pirate some videos from the TV Station. They spot the car outside the station. Hmm. I haven't been to TVB City before but is that it in the background of Yiu Sze Pin Cheung? Haha.. Anyway, the scene shows special guest star Power Chan as a stuttering staff of the station carrying some film reels. Power looks so funny in here with his thick frame specs and 3 toothpicks in his mouth.

While they were getting Power to admit he is stealing the reels, another surprise guest star sits in the car and drives away!

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Yup! It's Bobby Au Yeung! I so didn't expect him to be in this alternate ending. Haha. And he plays his Dicey Business character, Chai Foon Cheung! I liked that series very much so I was very excited that they got one of the main characters back to guest star! Bobby with his large tummy and sandals brings back so much memories. =)
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So the team follows Bobby to a restaurant where they finally realised he was the driver who knocked Roger down after "Man- Wah Jie" sends them the photo. I forgot who the actress is- dumb me. Can anyone tell me who is she please?

Anyway, "Siu Feng Jie" sees ketchup on Bobby's lips and mistakes it for blood and faints on the floor.

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The team then deploys other tactic to stop Bobby from heading to the accident area.

"Siu Feng Jie" tells Bobby that his son got admitted in the hospital?? Hmm.. Is that some connection with Dicey Business where some people were spectaculating that the little child shown at the end of the final episode was Bobby's & Jessica's child? Hmm.. Just a little guess of mine..

Derek reprises his role as CC Wong from War of In- Laws II but with a "Feng Shui" master feel. He tells Bobby that his family is in trouble and he could help him ward of the evilness. Bobby walks off saying that his family is fine and asks if Derek is gay. His actions and looks so remind me of CC!

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The team tries to stop Bobby's car from going to the accident scene and Derek tries to stop the car by using his body but Kitty saves his life in time. Suddenly, Bobby stops the car and walks back to give himself up to the police.

You realise that Kenneth actually disappears from this scene. Dunno where he went too though. It was so weird that Bobby just walks back suddenly and gives him up saying he admires them for giving up their lives to save their buddy. It was just too random?? Anyway, they end off the scene with another very random Victory sign. -.-'

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The scene shifts back to Roger & Sonija in the hospital and by now, Sonija had already given birth to her baby and Roger is helping her to burp the baby. Sonija teaches the baby how to salute when Kitty arrives. She tells the couple that their curse had been removed with the birth of the baby. Sonija then asks why the baby was so huge and already had so much hair on his head and Kitty admits to feeding the baby a bowl of rice before it was born?? What's up with all the random answers in this ending? -.-'

Anyway, just wanted to say that the baby is really so cute! Could he be Roger's son, Brad by any chance?

Anyway, was just wondering whether it was a blunder or they purposely changed the gender of the baby for this alternate ending? In the ending where Roger dies, the baby was a girl and in this ending, it was a boy. I think the boy's cuter anyway! =p

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The scene then shifts back to the DIE office where Margie tells Roger that it is no wonder after his son is born that he is even more fortunate than Ah Wang. Haha. It's Roger's character in both Life Made Simple & Square Pegs.
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The casts then thank the audience for their support for giving this series such high ratings and sings a song to celebrate before ending the scene.
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Okie, now for my thoughts on this alternate ending. I thought it was quite funny yet quite dumb as the series doesn't flow like a series anymore but like a variety program. The use of Power Chan & Bobby Au Yeung as guests stars was quite surprising and entertaining. However, I was just a little disappointed with the script and the lines of the casts. It was very rushed work and the story just don't flow well especially the part why Bobby decided to give himself up and the part about feeding Roger's son a bowl of rice before he was born. Overall, it was just a very fun to watch ending but don't take it too seriously.

A Journey Called Life Episode 15

2008-04-19T22:09:00.006+08:00

Linda & Steven are officially together but they're experiencing some problems as Linda finds out she may be unable to concieve!

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Queenie Chu accidentally bumps into Eric Li while talking on the phone and he fakes a dislocation of his shoulder and starts touching her. Linda arrives just in time and pushes him away. The two then kicks him in the shin and run off happily!

You rock girls! I really hate Eric's character in this series. I really wonder if it's his luck to be able to play the villian in almost every single series. It's kinda boring to see him acting bad all the time but guess the TVB directors and producers feel that he has that bad boy look.
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Claire Yiu guest stars as a Gynae Doctor in here. She looks pretty n here and carries off that doctor attitude. She tells Linda that she suspects something is wrong with her uterus etc. She asked if Linda had had an abortion before and Linda admitted she did one 3 or 4 years ago. Ok, this was shocking at first as I didn't expect her to have had an abortion but with the type of life she last had, not unimaginable. Anyway, Claire tells her she has to do a further examination to determine the seriousness of Linda's condition however, she suspects that Lunda may not be able to conceive in the future. Oh nooooooooo..
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Linda and Steven goes shopping and they see a group of children walking past and she sees how happy he is. He asks her when they were going to have their own kids and that he wanted 12 of them so they can all run a marathon with him. Oh my gosh. What's gonna happen when he knows?!
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Queenie gets drunk in a bar and Eric brings her away. Linda's Dad follows him and saw him raping Queenie. Eric runs away after Linda & Steven arrives. Look at how angry Linda is to hear it was Eric who raped Queenie! I wonder if what Eric says about Linda having a "Friend Curse" is real. All her friends all don't come to a good end. Look at Elaine & Queenie. =( Well, the good thing was that her Dad recognised Eric and they can now call the police. =)
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However, Linda's Dad suddenly changes his statement about witnessing Eric rape Queenie and Linda is heartbroken. Look at how sad she is in the last few captures. Oh I so hate that Yeung Dai Fen woman. She must be the one instigating Linda's Dad to change his statement so as to protect her son. And I just feel like hitting Linda's Dad. He's such a weakling always wanting to protect anyone in his family so as to keep all of them together but he always ends up hurting Linda. =(
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Steven vists Linda after realising that Fala had fired her from her job. He brings her some Bird Nest Soup which his Mum had specially brewed to nourish Helena and Linda rejects the soup. Must have reminded her that she may not be able to concieve. He leaves her alone and she is left alone in the house with all her troubles- She lost her job, her Dad betrayed her and she may not be able to concieve. Geez, what a bummer.
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In the next episode, Steven's mum asks Linda to break up with Steven and Eric finally gets caught by the police. Oh nooooooooooooo! I dun want Linda to break up with Steven. They just got tgt! Wonder why the mum did that. And Eric finally gets his just desserts. Haha.

A Journey Called Life Episode 14

2008-04-18T23:37:00.007+08:00

Episode 14 was so exciting! Linda & Steven finally got together in this episode and it was so romantic.
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Linda talks to Queenie about Steven belonging to the group of "extinct men" and Queenie tells Linda to admit that she loves Steven. Linda claims she is not good enough for him but Queenie insists she at least tell Steven about her feelings.
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Linda goes running with Steven and he hears a windchime coming from her phone and asks her to send it to him. He looks at her deeply and she says he's acting weird. Suddenly, he wanted to declare his feelings but Helena called him to inform him that Fala was leaving!

Kent teases Steven about arranging his wedding and Linda starts getting shy. Steven finally admits to Kent that he loves Linda but is afraid that she would reject him and they wouldn't even remain friends. Dratz!
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Steven prepares for his marathon run and meets Shermon Tang at the race. Linda starts to get jealous when she sees how close they were. I think Shermon looks fat in here. Or maybe izzit just muscles? Haha..
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Steven gets 3rd place in the marathon while Shermon gets 1st. The reporters start to guess whether they were a couple and Linda leaves in a huff. It's so cute to see Linda get jealous!
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Steven chases after Linda and she finally admits she was jealous of Shermon. Steven tells her that he only treats her like a little sister but Linda retorts saying he treats her like a sister too. He then says it's because she wanted him to be her older brother.

Linda goes on about how she was so afraid that Steven would only admit his feelings when she was old & grey or he bringing his feelings into the grave. Haha..

Linda asks if he minded her past and he kisses her to show that he didn't! So sweet! At long last, they're finally together!
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Linda & Steven announces their relationship to the family. One of Kent's staff accidentally blurted out that Linda should give Steven a kiss because he helped her with her goods the other time if not she would be in trouble.

Dunno which incident he was refering too. Could it be that time when the police came to raid Linda's shop?

Anyway, I thought it would ruin the scene with Linda getting mad at Steven but instead she gives him a peck on the cheek. It was really a romantic scene and the last screen cap looked like the finale of a series with a happy ending.

A Journey Called Life Episode 12- 13

2008-04-18T23:24:00.004+08:00

teven and Linda's relationship start to get closer in this episodes as Linda starts to realise she likes him too. =) In the meantime, Helena & Stephen get married as well. I wonder how it is to get married that young. Luckily Steven & Kent's family take such good care of them.
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Kent & Steven goes to Stephen's restaurant to talk about the wedding but his mother would not hear of it and even calls his older brothers out to threaten Kent and the others. Haha! But she didn't know that Kent had his own men on his side as well. Good one! Linda arrives and wanted to speak up for Kent but Stephen's mother got so angry that she splashed tea on Linda's face. >.< id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190606851662170786" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wIxCepM67pQ/SAi9bjoISqI/AAAAAAAAAF8/vSIqnxbZSQU/s400/AJCL+12-3.jpg" border="0">Steven teaches Linda how to make tofu so as to cheer her up. Look how happy they are!
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Helena & Stephen gets married and Steven drags Linda to take pictures as well. Linda was surpised and excited when Steven grabs her hands.
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She looks through the pictures they had taken and scrolls over to Steven's face. Look how sweet her smile is! This scene sort of reminds me of a certain scene from Heart of Greed. Will post the screen cap if I have time. =)
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She turns to look at the windchime and peeps downstiars at him. I wonder how many times have he peeped at her already. Haha..

A Journey Called Life Episode 11

2008-04-18T22:40:00.010+08:00

Hello! Screen captures for A Journey Called Life Episode 11! Steven tries to tell Linda about his feelings for her in this episode.
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Linda & Steven started discussing English. Sidetrack: It was quite ironical to hear Linda speak so bad English and asking to go for English lessons when she came from an English-speaking Country.

Anyway, Steven told her kiddingly that she was stupid and she pounced on him. Linda then left for home but Steven wouldn't let her and kept on calling out to her.

Steven: Ka Ka!

Linda: Anything the matter? I'm going back up.

Steven: Erm.. I'll get you materials on the tuition ok?

Linda: Thanks.

Steven: Er.. Ka Ka! The weather station said it would rain later on. Remember to close your windows.

Linda: Er.. Ok.

Steven: Ka Ka!

Linda: What's with you today? You're acting weird. Let's chat again next time?

Steven: Ka Ka!

Linda: Shhhhh..

Haha.. You could see that Steven didn't want her to leave at all.. He just couldn't bring himself to say it..
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Kent & his family wanted to row a boat together but the owner refused to let them as their combined weight was too heavy and Kent blamed the guy for despising fat people.
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Stephen wanted to apologise to Helena for ignoring her and made the clay doll of himself for her. They're a cute couple!
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Linda & Steven meet Eric while shopping. She blames Eric for causing Elaine's death and takes a spanner to hit him. Steven pulls her away saying he doesn't want anything to happen to her. Awww.. The last pic of them looking into each other's eyes is so romantic.
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Steven buys all sorts of flavours of ice cream to cheer Linda up and they play a little game where Linda throws the ice cream and he catches it. Steven sure looks like a little dog!

He then tries to tell her about his feelings but she stops him and even asks him to be her older brother! Poor Steven!
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Helena realised she was pregnant with Stephen's child. He promises her that he would marry her and work hard. If he earns $10, he'll give $10 to the family. If he earns $100, he'll give $100. If he earns $10000, he'll give $10000. It was a moving and touching scene but the part where they hugged each other was so fake! They should really learn how to act how to hug each other.

A Journey Called Life Episodes 6- 10

2008-04-18T01:56:00.012+08:00

Hello all! Sorry I haven't been updating.. Been rather busy thus far.. I'm up to Epi 13 of AJCL and it's getting more exciting! So here are some screen caps from Epi 6- 10.

Halina accompanies Kent to get some groceries for Auntie Wah and hints that she has taken a liking to someone. Kent tells her to be true to her feelings and reveal them to that guy.

Hint No. 1- Halina takes some "Wife Biscuits" and Kent explians to her that in Taiwan, they don't sell "Wife Biscuits" only "Husband Biscuits" and they're round just like him.

Halina "Don't those biscuits look like you? I like."

Kent "You have bad taste if you like me."

Isn't it obvious that Halina is hinting that she likes Kent? -.-'

Hint No. 2- Halina buys a bag of chips for Kent's wife (I forgot the actress's name).

Halina "She likes this flavour, so do I."

Duh.

Hint No. 3- Halina & Kent are choosing which type of rice to buy.

Kent "How bout 'Pearl Rice'? So round just like Fei Ching (His wife)."

Halina "Even though you're used to Pearl Rice, why don't you try this 'Young Plant' rice instead? See? They're long and thin and would be nice to eat. Ok, let's get one of each"

Kent "Big & Small rice. Both I like." (Dunno what he meant)

But duh, it's like so obvious? Haha..
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Kent & Halina leaves the supermarket and a mat suddenly falls on them. He tells her to walk out of it first while he holds on to it but she suddenly surprises him with a kiss! Look at his shocked face and that ridiculous pose in the last picture. Muahaha!
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Fala wants to attract Raymond's attention and pretends to have a leg cramp while swimming. Raymond jumps in to save her only to find that she was acting but he wasn't angry. Fala felt pleased to know he cared about her and told him to pick her up for work the next day.
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I absolutely postively love this scene! Even though it was just a short scene without much talking but the atmosphere and music was just perfect! Linda tells Steven that she likes to sit on top of the Tram Stop because she likes to listen to the wind chime. Some mushy & funny conversation between them.

Linda "Why does the sound from the wind chime sound so melodious tonight?"

Steven "It's because I'm here listening it with you."

Linda "If I ever come to listen to the wind chime again, I would want to listen it together with you."

Steven "You gotta make an appointment with my secretary first."

Haha.. Good joke Steven!
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Kent suffers a minor stroke due to his high blood pressure so his wife brings him to the countryside for some fresh air. They start to recollect how they were childhood sweethearts always catching frogs together and sharing a Banana Leaf to shelter themselves from the rain. Coicidentally, it started raining as well but they each took their own Banana Leaf as they couldn't share one with their size.. Haha..
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Linda resorts to selling drugs to pay off the rent for her shop and Steven gives her a good wake up call.

Steven "You can't always be blaming the world for stuff that happens to you. Don't you realise that in this world, people can tell you to this or that but the final decision lies in one's self. Ka-ka, I don't wanna see you go to jail. You're a good girl who is filial and good to her friends. I'll feel sad for you too."

Well said! Well said!
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Linda & Steven rushes over to the pub to find Elaine. She comes out and tells them she has swallowed an entire packet of pills as the police were raiding the place. They rush her to the hospital in a taxi.

Elaine "I dun wanna die. I haven't known enough guys yet."

Linda "No. Heaven won't let you die yet."

Steven "Hang on, Hana."

Elaine "Sorry for not listening to you"

Linda "It's not too late yet."

Elaine "No ones loves and dotes on me."

Linda "I do! Hold on! Hurry up please!"

It was truly an emotional scene. Elaine Yiu really improved by leaps and bounds since her RDOV days.
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The doctors try to save Hana but to no avail. I like how they ended this scene by Elaine speaking some words to Linda in a flashback scene- "We'll always be good sisters. If anything happens, I'll be on your side supporting you." AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW..
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Linda & Steven heads to the morgue to see Elaine's body. Linda tells her to rest in peace and helps her tidy her hair.
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Linda tells Steven she wants to be alone and sits in the rain. He comes with an umbrella and tells her to go home as Elaine wouldn't want to see her in that state. The scene ends with a very emotional scene where Linda is shown in her empty house calling Elaine's name.

=( I teared in this scene and you could see how lonely and scared Linda was being all alone in the house without Elaine.
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Before Elaine died, she wanted somebody to love her and Linda said she did so Steven helped her in carving Elaine's plaque.

Hmmm.. I wonder how it would be to carve your best friend's death plaque. I think I won't even be able to face the plaque. It'll be too painful.
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Ok! Finally a happy scene! Kent does not plan to sell the shop to his rival anymore as it hurt him to know that his sign board and his shop's name would not be used. Look at the temper on Raymond's face. He wanted Kent to sell the shop so that he would get a sum of money as commission from the rival company. BAD BOY! Kent then decides to sell the shop at a much lowered rate to Steven! Yay! But Raymond starts to get jealous. ___________________________________________________

Okie.. That'll be all the updates for Episode 6- 10. Super hooked on this series now. It's like a cliffhanger after every single episode. =) More updates coming soon!

A Journey Called Life Episodes 1- 5

2008-04-15T00:43:00.004+08:00

So far I'm really loving this series. Even the 1st episode ended off with a cliffhanger. Here are some screencaps from Episodes 1 to 5. I'm up to Epi 10 actually but have no time to do any screen caps of the remaining episodes yet.

Steven & Kent share this natural sort of Father-Son connection in here. Love to see their scenes together. Here's once particular scene when Kent was complaining that Steven was running too slowly and Steven complained that he was just tired.

Linda is coaxing Steven into buying a handphone from her and even throws in a free phone strap, screen protector and an extra battery. When he later explains it's over his budget, she starts to tell him how hard it is to make a living and that the rent is expensive blah blah blah. Eventually Steven buys the phone and gets nagged at by Fala for getting cheated.

A few days later,

The phone explodes in Steven's pocket due to the fake battery.

Linda soon finds out that the urn at the crematorium does not contain her Mum's ashes and her hatred for her Dad deepened after that.

One of the funniest scenes in the series. Steven chased after Linda to get her back to talk to her Dad and she started screaming "Molest!" when Steven turned the tables on her and asked her to stop gambling and told her that they didn't even have money to buy their baby's milk powder. So hilarious!

A very emotional scene after Linda finally found her Mum's ashes.

The two French brothers Stephen & Francois Hyunh. Hope I got their names right. Fala two-timed them but they get into a fight over her. -.-'

The most hilarious scene of this series thus far. Steven's family thought he was gay and it was so funny to see his Mum trying to accept the fact and his sisters telling that they would support him all the way. The look on Steven's face was absolutely priceless.

Steven & Kent tricked Linda into jogging and she got so angry she started making those funny faces. I swear it wasn't becos of any camera effects whatsoever. Well, she got hooked on to jogging and started spending time with Steven and that gold hair guy who's called G-man?? (I mean who calls themselves that?) got jealous and drugged Steven's water.

Next up: Screen Caps from Episode 6- 10

Death Investigation Extension Review

2008-04-14T12:09:00.003+08:00

Death Investigation Extension- 古灵精探

No. of Episodes: 25

Main Cast:
Roger Kwok as Yue Chi Long
Sonija Kwok as Ying Ching Ching
Kenneth Ma as Shing Ka-Tsun
Margie Tsang as Yue Chi Ching
Leung Ka Yan asYue Da Hoi
Kitty Yuen as Xiu Yee
Derek Kwok as Cheung Ching Yee

Synopsis
The "Death Investigation Extension (D.I.E.)" in the police force was established to accommodate those who have been sent away by their supervisors. As everybody knows, members of the Extension are to investigate unsolved cold cases. YUE CHI-LONG (Roger Kwok), who has cracked a large number of difficult cases by extrasensory means, is assigned to the D.I.E. believing that he will get promoted soon. Later LONG finds out that his supervisor still has a long way to go before he reaches retirement age. Hoping to leave the Extension as soon as possible, he gets to solve a lot of intriguing cases. New appointee YING CHING-CHING (Sonija Kwok) is a good-looking girl but she means to act tough and sassy in front of others. She takes an uncompromising stand over every case she deals with, which leads her into constant quarrels with LONG. The relationship between the pair is deteriorating day after day.LONG's elder sister, YUE CHI-CHING (Margie Tsang), has been living with him. While investigating an old case, LONG gets to find his long-lost father YUE TAI-HOI (Leung Ka Yan). Through close collaboration with LONG, CHING-CHING has gradually developed affection for him. As she is still torn between LONG and her two-timing boyfriend SHING KA-TSUN (Kenneth Ma), LONG has started to try to avoid her without rhyme or reason. Feeling so confused about what is happening, CHING-CHING decides to do some probing and is shocked to discover that LONG has been dogged by a female ghost called SIU SIN (Kitty Yuen).

Credits: Astro On Demand

Reviews:
I never heard of this series before it was aired and thought that it was just another series before the more anticipated ones arrived. Oh boy. How wrong I was. This series was excellent! It got me so hooked that I was anticipating the next episode every day. However, one thing got me sighing away was "Not another Kenneth Ma series". It was Survivor's Law II followed by The Master of Tai Chi and now D.I.E. I was getting so sick of seeing Kenneth Ma. TVB should really learn how to seperate series with the same actors.

Roger Kwok:
As usual, Roger puts up a great performance as the comical and weird detective who has a special power to see clues that other people can't upon touching the evidence. He acquired it after he got struck by lightning. God knows how he got struck. Thumbs up for Roger Kwok!

Sonija Kwok:
I'm not really a Sonija Kwok fan and her role in this series did not really WOW me at all. She always had the same expression and the way she said her script was really mono. Her character in here was rather boyish and rash. And she was always on to this criminal that she chased from Episode 1 all the way to Episode 25. She gave birth to a daughter in the end but overall, not a really impressive performance by Sonija.

Kenneth Ma:
He plays a very charming and hot police inspector in here. He and Sonija started off as a couple but he cheated on her with Queenie Chu. He was even suspected of murdering Queenie in the front few episodes. Kenneth's performance was just normal in here. Nothing wow except that he was quite charming. Then again, I was quite sick of seeing him all the time.

Derek Kwok:
He plays a police officer who is very loyal and thinks simply. His idol is Bruce Lee and you can see that some of his outfits in the show resembles him. Derek is again very entertaining in here and I liked the way he liked Margie but was too shy to express it.

Margie Tsang:
She plays Roger's older sister in here. I've never seen any of Margie's series before so it was a first time for me. She just plays the regular older sister and owns a match making travel agency. Not bad a performance from her.

Couples:
Roger & Sonija:
I believe that this was their first pairing together but they did it quite well and convincing. Their first meeting was hilarious when both drew their guns and showed their police passes to each other. Quite an ok pair. Sadly, they didn't end up together.

Kenneth & Sonija:
Their pairing did not really work for me. It was quite plain and nothing big except for that Queenie Chu third party thing. And Sonija looks way older than him even though they're almost of the same age.

Derek & Margie:
This is one of the few times I've seen Derek pair up with someone closer to his age and it fitted him well too. They were fun to watch as both were nice people. Derek didn't dare to admit his feelings for Margie for fear that Roger would object to their relationship. But all's well and ends well.

Overall Rating:
4/5

This is definitely one series not to be missed if you like comical detective series. The characters wer fun to watchand there was never a dull moment in this series. A few negative aspects was just the too predictable cases as the suspects were always someone close to the characters and that the very very bad ending. It was so so rushed. They had to solve one last case in the last episode, show a wedding, show how Roger got back with Sonija, show alot of other things all in one episode. The worst thing was I expected this series to have comical ending to complement its hilarious starting however, I was so disappointed to see the director kill of Roger's character in the end. I mean what in the world? It was supposed to be a happy ending. And Sonija just gave birth to a daughter from out of the blue.

*TVB will be making an alternate ending to this series but I have not seen it yet.

The Master of Tai Chi Review

2008-04-14T10:57:00.009+08:00

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.

The Seventh Day Review

2008-04-14T00:06:00.004+08:00

The Seventh Day- 最美麗的第七天

No. of Episodes: 20

Main Cast:
Kevin Cheng as Yau Chi Wing
Niki Chow as Ling Ka Yan
Bosco Wong as Don Hui Wai Yan
Natalie Tong as Sasa Wong Chi Kwan

Sypnosis:
Yau Chi Wing (Kevin Cheng Ka Wing) and Hui Wai Yan (Bosco Wong Chung Chak) were both born on the seventh day of August, but one takes relationships seriously while the other is very money-minded and sees love as a tool to get higher up the social ladder.The tale begins on the seventh of August, when Wing and Yan first encounter their own dream girl on the island. Wing works as a lifeguard on the outlying island. He gets to know pet shop assistant Ling Ka Yan (Niki Chow Lai Kei) by chance and is soon mesmerized by her endearing personality. Yan works at a coffee shop and meets a romance comic artist called Wong Chi Kwan (Natalie Tong Sze Wing). Being misled into believing that the girl is from a rich family, Yan decides to chase her. He would never have thought that someone as calculating as himself would end up falling into a love trap.

Credits: Astro On Demand

Reviews:
I was quite excited to hear about the pairings in this series as I've especially liked Kevin Cheng & Niki Chow in Under The Canopy of Love and Bosco Wong & Natalie Tong have always been hot favourites for me. However, I just don't get why the trailers should include scenes of "The 1st Day", "The 2nd Day" etc. The significance of Bosco & Kevin being born on the same day also meant not much to me as I thought it was just a way for TVB to name this show The Seventh Day and to portray how 2 people born on the same day fell in and out of love.

Kevin Cheng:
He plays this filial grandson who works as a lifeguard to earn a living. He loves his grandma and hates his father for abadoning them and cheating them of their money causing him to lose his chance of studying overseas. In the beginning, I really disliked Kevin's character for always treating Niki as an errand girl doing all the odd jobs for him while he hangs out with his friends all day long. However, it became clear later on that he really loved Niki. Kevin plays a rather sad and pitiful character her compared to his cheerful self in UTCOL. He does a great job as well.

Niki Chow:
She loves dogs very much in this show and dreams of opening a pet shop. She has this dog called Jack who can do many fancy tricks. Her unconditional love for Kevin really touched me e.g She runs around doing odd jobs for him, She flies to Japan to search for him when she realised that he has disappeared, She broke up with him so that he wouldn't find out that she has cancer and that she will die eventually. Again, similar to Kevin, she plays a sad character as well who inherits the cancer from her mum. I like Niki's acting here as you could see how her character develops.

Bosco Wong:
Bosco and his group of friends dream of becoming bosses of their own one day and form a company called DDMK named after their initials. They buy over a coffeeshop and work hard for their future there. He mistakens Natalie Tong for a rich girl and sets out to woo her. He later moves on to Charmaine Li's father's company to work as a manager but later decides that he prefers to be his own boss. Bosco was more interesting to watch her over Kevin as he always has funny antics and you can see his emotions easily.

Natalie Tong:
She plays a comic book artist here who uses Bosco as a means for ideas for her comic book. This is Natalie's first big role in a series so I was pretty hyped about it. At last, she's not going to play someone's younger sister again. Her performance was rather entertaining and cute with her glasses and her sort of cartoon characteristic. TVB really should give her more roles to play. She is really one actress who deserves to shine.

Couples:
Kevin & Niki: At first I watched this series as I really liked their pairing in UTCOL. They shared great chemistry there and in TSD as well. They looked comfortable together however it got really boring to watch them towards the ending half of the series. Theirs was turning into a non-parent approved relationship along with Selena Li acting as Kevin's AIDS stricken ex-girlfriend and also Niki's cancer. I was kinda getting bored with seeing their sad sad faces all the time.

Bosco & Natalie:
They are a fresh pairing in this series and they have no doubt scored high in my opinion. They were so cute to see with the using of each other behind their backs. And the really cute scens of how they finally found out that they had real feelings for each other but everything was too late. Charmaine Li was the third party in this series. It was rather funny to see Natalie always playing tricks on Bosco to test his temper and Bosco always giving in to her thinking that she is a rich girl. Towards the end of this series, I wanted to see more of them but the scenes seem to constantly be fixed on Kevin & Niki's sad sonata.

Overall Ratings:
4/5

This series garnered pretty bad ratings for a major hyped about series in Hong Kong. I guess the audience just got bored. I too was overally bored by Kevin & Niki towards the end. I just wanted to see more Bosco & Natalie scenes. However, I gave this series 4/5 because I think the scenes filmed in Japan were so beautiful and that the ending was a beautiful one even though Niki died. Both Natalie & Niki gave birth to baby girls on August 7 which is the date Kevin & Bosco were both born in the series. If you are a fan of comedy and tear jerking scenes, this would be the series for you.

War of In-Laws II Review

2008-04-13T23:15:00.007+08:00

War of In- Laws II- 野蠻奶奶大戰戈師奶

No. of Episodes: 20

Main Cast:

Liza Wang as Ophelia Kwo Pik

Bosco Wong as Kyle Kwo Dak

Myolie Wu as Chow Lai Man

Joyce Tang as Coco Ko Po Po

Derek Kwok as CC Wong Zung Cheung

Benz Hui as But Ping Fan

Nancy Wu as Iris

Stephen Huynh as Ryan

Suki Tsui as Gloria

Vivien Yeo as Athena Sun Zi Kiu

Vincent Wong as Mark

Synopsis:

Magazine editor-in-chief KWO PIK (Liza Wang) will never save face for her superiors, nor will she come to the defense of her subordinates. She shows no mercy to her enemies and does everything she can to keep her son KWO TAK (Bosco Wong) under her thumb. She is an iron lady who can't afford to lose anything. As she is still full of confidence that she can determine her son's future life, a plain, geeky-looking girl named CHOW LAI-MAN (Myolie Wu) has already managed to become the wife of TAK. Later MAN resigns from the police force and chooses to work as a magazine journalist, thus leading to even more conflicts between her and PIK.Not long after, PIK is dragged into a scandal and gets framed by her assistant KO PO-PO (Joyce Tang), which causes her to lose her place all of a sudden. Facing a dramatic career slump and her deteriorating relationship with her son and daughter-in-law, PIK moves to the outlying islands on her own. There she meets a new man in her life, the knowledgeable and talented BUT PING-FAN (Benz Hung) who was once a convict. From FAN, PIK has learnt how to reflect on herself and let go of the past. As everything seems to be going fine, MAN discovers that there is a conspiracy going on and that the magazine she is working for is in danger of falling apart.

Credits: Astro On Demand

Reviews:

I did not watch War of In-Laws I so this series was actually a fresh series to me. There wasn't much squabbling between Myolie & Liza as I expected. More of Liza bullying Myolie and being the "Boss" of everything. The plot moved on rather smoothly and there were a number of romantic scenes as well.

Liza Wang:

Her hairstyle looked pretty funny and it doesn't really match her. Just wondering why they decided to let her use it. Her dressings are kinda funky and matches her image as Chief Editior of Elva Magazine. Her scenes are always funny but I don't think I would work under her or even marry into her family. It's too scary.

Bosco Wong:

I think the producer wants to strengthen the fact that both Bosco and Liza are related in this seris as both of them has awful hairstyles. I'm definitely not a fan of Bosco's swirling Medusa hairstyle. He dresses pretty weird in here too. I don't think that Bosco got a chance to show off his acting here. It's too women overpopulated. Poor guy.

Myolie Wu:

Her occupation as a Police Officer was pretty redundant in my opinion. I think TVB just wanted her to be in a police uniform for once. However, she has nice clothes and nice hair in this series. She portrayed her character rather well too. I actually felt sorry for the poor girl seeing Liza harping on her all the time.

Joyce Tang:

She plays Coco here, an orphan that Liza adopts and trains her to become her personal assistant. It's always entertaining to see Joyce act. Her actions are always so funny. Her clothes are rather nice too.

Derek Kwok:

Derek plays a sissy fashion magazine editior here. He wears white specs and colourful floral clothings. Everyone thought he was gay here but only to realise he already has 2 twin daughters. Derek is my number one top character actor. He fits into practically any role you give to him and he was so convincing as the sissy. Totally loved his performance here.

Couples:

Myolie & Bosco:

The highly acclaimed Boscolie did not fail my expections of them in this series. In fact, they passed with flying colours. They share really good chemistry and are really impressive here. They even wear matching pyjamas!

Joyce & Derek:

A fresh new pairing again. Don't think I've ever seen them in a series before. I was actually more excited over their relationship rather than Boscolie. They were so entertaining to watch. It's so cute to see Joyce going after Derek at first but later the proposing scene in Episode 20 was as entertaining again. Hope to see them in another series again!

Overall Ratings:

4/5

The story was quite smooth flowing and didn't have to many surprises. The actors and actresses all portrayed an entertaining series. The ending was rather rushed again in my opinion. Again, I've never watched War of In-Laws I so I did not know what to expect of it here but I think everyone should give this series a try.

Survivor's Law II Review

2008-04-13T19:46:00.005+08:00

Survivor's Law II- 律政新人王 II

No. of Episodes: 20

Main Cast:
Kenneth Ma as Sun Man Kwan
Sammul Chan as Cheuk Wai Ming
Ella Koon as Sun Lei Lei
Selena Li as Cheng Choi Yuk

Synopsis:
Righteous young man SUN MAN KWAN (Kenneth Ma) comes from the grassroots. To put the doctrine "All men are equal before the law" to the test, he study law at university. After a few years of hard work he has finally become a lawyer. Although his boss appreciates his unconventional way of doing things, his colleagues always try hard to avoid him. His personal assistant, CHEUK WAI MING (Sammul Chan), is an exception. MING admires KWAN's out-of-the-box style and always lends him a hand on the quiet. As time goes by, two men become good friends. KWAN defies the rich and the influential. In light of this, he looks down upon SUEN LEI LEI (Ella Koon), who is also a lawyer, for what she does and how she behaves. Their frequent co-operations very often are full of hilarious episodes. In LEI's eyes, KWAN is no different than a rascal who leads a lousy life and who always dallies with women. Later on, LEI is attacked and almost gets killed because of a lawsuit. Fortunately, KWAN comes to her rescue. Not until then does she realize she loves him indeed. But fate has it that she and MING have become lovers for the sake of her father's business. Meanwhile, just when their relationship is at a standstill, MING learns that his ex-girlfriend, CHENG CHOI YUK (Selena Li), is pregnant with his child.

Credits: Astro On Demand

Reviews:
I watched Survivor's Law back in 2003 and thought that it was a rather good series. However, I was quite apprehensive when I realised they were going to make a sequel out of it. Firstly, because they were changing like 3/4 of the casts. Secondly, I just couldn't see how they could make a sequel out of a series that had already ended.

Kenneth Ma:
I thought he portrayed his character really well as a "hooligan" lawyer. Kinda reminded me of Raymond Lam's character. His relationship with his on-screen daughter, Bobo was also quite sweet. I just felt that he should have more different outfits instead of appearing in his denim jeans jacket 90% of the series.

Ella Koon:
She plays Sun Lei Lei aka Lily who once wanted to become a fashion designer but took up law for her father. She's rich and likes to buy stuff for Kenneth's daughter. I think TVB found the correct actress to star as Lily. They needed someone who has great charisma and looks fabulous in all sorts of outfits.

Sammul Chan:
He was the only one that continued from Survivor's Law. He was pretty boyish there but I thought his hair looked weird here like he was wearing a wig. His character continues as a lawyer assistant here after his license got revoked. He gets his license back after a while however loses his memory towards the end. Sammul is another actor who I think cannot play down and out characters, therefore I prefered his character back in Survivor's Law I.

Selena Li:
She plays the weak and soft spoken Cheng Choi Yuk. She helps Sammul gets on his feet again after Bernice leaves him and he loses his license. She gives birth to his child towards the end an stays by his side even though he lost his memory. Selena has always been a great actress being to portray almost any character.

Couples:
Kenneth & Ella: They were a fresh pairing but they matched each other quite well as both have that great charisma. I especially love to see their arguing scenes. It was fun to see how they turned from an always bickering couple to a loving married couple.

Sammul & Selena: Erm, honestly, this pairing didn't really work for me. They just look weird together. Nah. Not compatible at all and they didn't really share this spark and attract me like how Kenneth & Ella did.

Overall Ratings:
3.5/ 5

As usual the endings of almost every TVB series is very rushed and this is not an exception. Most of the cases were pretty boring to me. It didn't have this on the edge effect. However, the relationships among all the cast were pretty good except for Sammul & Selena. I enjoyed Kenneth's performance in here too. I would say who watched Survivor's Law I, do not have to high expections of this series but just try it out if you just wanna do some comparisons.

`About Byn With TVB

2008-04-13T13:17:00.003+08:00

Hello everybody!

My name is Robyn. I'm a Singaporean Chinese heading over to Australia for my Bachelor studies in July 08.

I love watching TVB series since a very young age so I decided to set up this blog to share my thoughts about them. Please bear with the bad design as it's still in the production stage. I'll update regularly on series that I'm currently watching along with synopsis and reviews. Just a precaution that these posts will contain spoilers!

The Downloads Section will mostly comprise of themes and subthemes from TVB series. I'll upload the songs mainly on Megaupload however I'll consider uploading on other webbies such as Sendspace & Filesend if needed. If you wish to request for any songs, please do so by leaving a comment in my tagbox and I'll try to find the song.

If you wish to use anything from this site, please give due credit to "Byn With TVB" and with a link back to this page please. And please do not direct link all the downloads as it will steal my bandwidth. Thanks!