A Journey Called Life Review

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)

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

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.. =(

A Journey Called Life Episode 18

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!!!!

A Journey Called Life Episode 17

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.